The Eclipse Islands
by Princess Selina
Summary: The Eclipse League is rumoured to be the hardest competition in the world. The seventeen gym leaders, the Carinthia siblings, are rarely beaten, and Ash is determined to be the next trainer to topple them. With friends old and new Ash will face the Carinthia's one by one, but will he be able to finally become a Pokémon Master with the trouble that always seems to follow him?
1. Chapter 1

**To new readers of this fanfiction, please note that this story ignores the storyline of the Best Wishes series as it was started before there was any sort of conclusion to it, it will use characters from the saga but it will not reference a majority of the events that happened within it.**

**~Selina**

* * *

**Chapter One:**

Ash Ketchum was only half awake in the bed he'd slept in so little in the last few years. After six and a half years of traveling the world it felt strange to be back in Pallet Town for as long as he had been. He'd honestly have been more comfortable sleeping on the forest floor like usual, or in a Pokémon Centre bed or even on the couches. It wasn't anything to do with comfort actually, just something about being out there, just made him feel that much more… alive.

But he had no where to go now, he'd been home for two months, and yet he had nothing left to do. He'd gone through every league, and the battle frontier as well, Kanto, Orange, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova. He'd been to them all, he'd challenged them all. There were no leagues left for him to face, and even if there was, he just wouldn't feel right going, because he just missed the people he'd journeyed with too much to even consider leaving without them.

He missed the days of traveling with Misty, arguing like they could kill each other and yet be willing to do anything to protect the other the moment danger came across their paths. He missed May, her constant good nature, her joy for contests, and her ability to find the perfect restaurant no matter where they were. He missed Max, the little pocket dictionary, who even with a Pokénav could get them lost who reminded them so much of himself at his age he couldn't believe the little guy would be starting his own Pokémon journey soon enough. He missed Dawn, her constant optimism and cheer, who could fuss over the littlest details of her appearance and yet still would take you down a peg or two and would always be there for you no matter what. He missed Brock, who'd been there from the start of his journey and had almost been their to the end, who had been like an older bother and a father figure to him, always knowing what to say, always had the right advice as well, unless it was about girls, then it was a good idea to avoid anything he had to say about it. Of course their was Iris and Cilan as well, but he just didn't miss them like he missed the others, with them it hadn't been as fun, there weren't the daily Team Rocket attacks or the half as many crazy adventures that they'd had which with the others they'd laugh about every night before they went to sleep.

But they had their own ambitions, their own dreams, their own responsibilities. Misty had her gym. May was competing in contests in Johto with Drew. Dawn was still competing in Hoenn. Max wasn't even able to start his journey yet, besides he'd want to start in a league that Ash had already done. Brock was in some Pokémon Centre in Kanto doing hands on experience for his quest to become a Pokémon Doctor. And Ash was just sitting here, alone, waiting for something to break, for something to just go right so he could finally achieve his own dream.

'Ash, honey, are you awake yet?'

Ash sat up slightly, attempting to flatten his ridiculously messy dark hair as he turned to face his mother who was standing in the open door way, 'Yeah, is something wrong?' he questioned, noticing the expression on her face.

'I suppose… I'm a little worried about you lately,' she admitted, sitting down on the foot of his bed.

'What do you mean?' he asked, quirking an eyebrow at his mother, seeing the worry in her eyes reflecting in her eyes only a few shades of brown lighter than his own.

'It's just… you've been home for two months Ash, and usually you would have run off on a new adventure by now, or training like mad for your next big competition… it almost seems like, well, you're fading Ash.'

Ash frowned biting his lip before responding, 'Well, it's not like I have much to do. Honestly I've taken on all six leagues, I've done the battle frontier, I don't really have much to do that I haven't already done. Besides, it's not like I have anyone to travel with, I've barely had a chance to talk to the others because they're all so busy, the only one I have managed to talk to is Tracey, and I'm pretty sure he's completely committed to working for Professor Oak. I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore really.'

'Oh Ash, you can't mean that. There's always the other battle frontiers, there's a great one in Sinnoh and-' she began but Ash decided to put her out of her misery.

'I'm not interested in that, and you know why mum,' he said, and his mother gave a small sigh, squeezing her son's hand.

'And it's not like you don't have anyone to travel with, what about Iris? Or Cilan? You seemed to get along with them.'

'I do, but I miss the others, the old gang, if I did have somewhere to travel with, there would still be no point, I have no where to go.'

'Well… have you tried talking to Professor Oak about this? Surely he'd know somewhere you could go,' she offered.

'Well usually he'd bring it up if there's something new. I mean, he sent me everywhere else, why wouldn't he say something this time? I don't know if I'll be able to find anything, and honestly part of me has given up a little-'

'Ash Ketchum!' his mother reprimanded sharply and instantly he regretted saying what he had, 'I did not raise a quitter, you're going to Professor Oak's Laboratory right now, and you're going to ask him to give you something to do! I will not have my sicken year old son laying around the house doing nothing! All day bemoaning his lack of a Pokémon journey to follow!'

Before Ash could respond however, his mother pulled him from the room, and marched him out the door, still in his pajamas, Pikachu still fast asleep on his bed. Delia lectured him the whole way until he found himself in the front garden feeling very confused. This confusion only increased when he heard the front door slam and the locks snapping shut.

'Mum!' he yelled, hammering against the door with his fists.

'You do not come back into this house until you've spoken to Professor Oak young man!'

'Wait, what? I'm still in my pajamas!… Why does Pikachu get to sleep in?!'

...

'Are you sure there's nothing left for me to do without repeating things?' Ash questioned desperately.

It was about an hour later and now Ash was sitting with Professor Oak and Gary in the living room of the Oak Laboratory. It had taken Ash a while to actually get to ask them what he'd wanted to know. After he'd convinced his mother to let him back in, got changed, forced Pikachu to wake up, he'd run over to the laboratory, but he could hardly get in the door fast enough before he was interrupted by his old Pokémon. Each of them more eager to see him then the next even though he'd only been there a few days earlier, he'd spent so long just laughing and being with his friends again that he'd almost completely forgotten why he'd come round in the first place. But the answer he'd received hadn't been one he'd liked to hear, even if he'd already known in his heart it would be the answer he got.

'Well Ash, I'm sorry, you've taken on the five main leagues, and the Orange League, and the Kanto Battle Frontier. Unless you want to redo one of the leagues or go to another Battle Frontier, then there isn't much else you can do,' Professor Oak explained sounding apologetic.

Seeing Ash's frustration Gary spoke up, trying to relieve some of the stress his old rival was clearly feeling, 'Would it really be too bad Ash? I mean really, there's up to forty or fifty gyms in each of the leagues, Hoenn's borderline sixty I think seeing as one of them was just reopened,' Gary told him, flicking back a fragment of his ever styled brown hair, 'You could go through the entire league without going to any of the ones you've faced before. It would be like a new adventure, usually you've just skated from closest gym to closest gym, or the more popular ones essentially.'

Ash just groaned, burying his head in his hands, 'You two just don't get it.'

'Well if you're really desperate for something to do, there's always becoming a Frontier Brain, you were offered the position remember?' Professor Oak reminded, clearly not getting why Ash had turned it down in the first place.

'It's not for me, not yet,' Ash said quietly through gritted teeth.

'Well… there is always- Actually, scratch that, I'm out of ideas,' Gary said hastily, attempting to cover his initial sentence, but Ash looked up again.

'What was the "there is always" thing about?' he asked suspiciously.

'Um… well…' Gary began, but stopped himself.

'If you are going to tell him about what I think you are, then I suggest you do it Gary, he'll find out eventually if you don't,' Professor Oak laughed.

'Will both of you tell me what I've missed?' Ash complained irritably.

'…Have you heard of the Eclipse Islands?' Gary asked weakly, and as Ash looked confused he sighed and continued, 'Of course you haven't you've never paid attention to a geography lesson in your life Ketchum.'

'Where's the Eclipse Islands?' Ash asked in confusion.

'It's south from Hoenn, in the middle of the ocean, middle of no where essentially. It's where the world's most difficult league in the world is held,' Gary explained.

'It's the hardest league?' Ash questioned, not sure how to respond to that.

'It's run by a group of trainers who're all better than most gym leaders. There are seventeen of them, twelve girls, five boys, each of which specialising in a Pokémon type, and elemental specialist. It's set up a little weird though, because it's such a small league and the trainers are all so tough, they don't have their own Elite Four and Champion like most leagues even if they do have a top five. But to make up for that, they've got a special system. If you win all seventeen badges, you are qualified to challenge any Elite Four of your choosing from any of the other leagues.'

'Any of the Elite Fours… are they really that good?' Ash asked.

He knew how it worked usually, to challenge the Elite Four, you'd have to win that Elite Four's regional tournament. Or become a gym leader and use that as a stepping stone to replace them. To go through the Eclipse League and instantly be qualified to challenge any of his choosing… that was an opportunity that didn't come along more than once in a life time, he'd never heard of something like this.

'Of course they are, before setting up the league some of them were part of the Elite Four, one or two of them were even a Champion for a time. I heard something about them being unsatisfied with only being challenged by the others in their Elite Four or the one annual trainer, so they set up the league,' Gary said almost carelessly.

Ash thought for a long moment, but the excitement building up in his chest was too strong to ignore as he thought about what this could mean for him, 'I can do it. I can do it,' he said confidently, a child-like grin spreading across his features.

'You must be careful Ash, to challenge the Eclipse League you are going to need you're strongest Pokémon,' Professor Oak said and instantly Ash looked confused by what the Professor meant.

'He means that you can't go around catching Pokémon and training them as you go,' Gary warned, 'You need to call in all the Pokémon you had before, because anything less then the best is not going to beat them. Plus, you can't keep using the same ones over and over, you'll fall into a pattern and they'll catch you out.'

'What do you mean by they'll catch me out?' Ash asked almost suspiciously.

'The seventeen of them are a very tightly knit group. They talk to each other, and if they think they're in any danger of being beaten, they'll focus in on you and warn the next trainer of what they observed in battle. Then they'll use that to defeat you.'

Ash frowned, before realising how hard it would be, the gym leaders he'd faced hadn't exactly been telling the next what he did in battle, they hadn't usually heard of him before he challenged them and he couldn't help but ask one question, 'How many people have beaten the league before?'

Gary took a deep breath and said simply, 'This is why I wasn't going to tell you Ash. Only a couple dozen trainers have ever made it to the final five. And so far only three people have actually won overall.'

_'Three?'_ Ash asked, feeling the weight of the impending challenge already.

'Cynthia was one of them, and the other two were only narrowly defeated by the Champion's of the league's they challenged, only the best of the best have what it takes to get through the Eclipse League,' Professor Oak said, clearly wondering whether any one, let alone Ash had the potential to beat the league again.

'Really?' Ash asked quietly.

'Really,' Gary said simply, leaning forward black eyes sparking, 'Do you really think you can do this?'

Ash frowned before, leaning up to stroke the electric mouse, sitting on his shoulder who'd been listening intently the entire conversation, 'What do you think Pikachu?'

'Pi-ka!' it yelled, tumbling onto Ash's lap and jumping up and down in enthusiasm.

Ash beamed at his partner Pokémon before saying, 'Then I'll do it!'

'Hope you know what you're getting into,' Gary laughed.

'You will need to be at your best to topple the Eclipse League Ash,' Professor Oak said philosophically.

'…Then in that case I have something to do before I head out. I'm going to need to try to get the old gang back together. This journey is something I can't pull off on my own, especially without Brock, without him to coach me I didn't do half as well as I hoped in the Unova League. And if he won't come… even if he does come, I'm going to try to see if Misty, May, Max and Dawn… I want to see if they'll come, I don't want to do this without them.'

'Wow, you really rely on your friends don't you?' Gary asked a mix between curiosity and something else he didn't quite register.

The corner of Ash's mouth quirked as he replied, 'Well I doubt those fan girls you used to trail around with you through Kanto were much hope when you were going through hell.'

'Have you learnt sarcasm since I last saw you?' Gary queried, almost unnerved.

'It's necessary for surviving Unova,' Ash shrugged, 'So how do you know about this league exactly? I haven't even heard of it before, Cynthia didn't even mention it and I must have seen her half a dozen times in Sinnoh.'

'It's not very well known, most trainers don't make it past four symbols, plus it's only been set up for about two and a half, three years or so. I only knew about it because I met one of the leaders,' Gary explained, hoping Ash wouldn't ask but he was going to.

'Really? You met one?'

'I… I dated the poison gym leader at one stage,' he admitted, not seeming comfortable talking about it.

'You did?' Ash couldn't help but laugh.

'We broke up because neither of us had time for a proper relationship,' he insisted.

'And because her sisters didn't like you,' Professor Oak reminded much to the chagrin of his grandson.

'What?' Ash laughed at his rival's distress.

'When those girls make a joint decision, no one can break it. Maybe one or two of them didn't mind me too much, but that wouldn't have mattered.'

'Big family?' Ash grinned.

'You have no idea, so, what's you're plan?' Gary asked changing the subject hastily.

'I'll go to Cerulean City, and find out if there's anyway that Misty can come, and find out where Brock is station and try to convince him as well. I'll have to wait till May's done with the Grand Festival to talk to her, same with Dawn in Hoenn-'

'Ash, you do know that the Johto Grand Festival is today right?' Professor Oak interrupted.

'It is?' he asked in alarm.

'It starts soon enough, you're going to watch May right?' he questioned.

'Of course, and as soon as she's done I'll try to talk her into-'

'What's in it for her?' Gary asked suspiciously, 'There isn't a contest circuit in the Eclipse Islands?'

'I'll think of something, besides it'll be good for Max to come and see it, and he wouldn't be able to go without May-'

'Blackmail, I like it,' Gary smirked.

'You could probably talk to Dawn on your way to the islands Ash,' Professor Oak informed him, 'Going from Slateport City is the fastest way to get there from what I know.'

'This is going to be great, huh Pikachu?' Ash asked, smiling at the mouse like Pokémon.

'Pi-ka!' it cheered loudly.

He could feel the excitement pounding through his system, but a single silent thought was vibrating in the back of his mind. What if no one was coming with him? What if they were all to busy, or just weren't interested in it? He knew he couldn't do this alone.

* * *

**Updated: 5th of July 2013**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

As Ash ran back into the his house, calling out to his mother as he went, 'Mum?!'

He ran into the kitchen, and saw his mother elbow deep in the sink, washing up some things from last night, 'Hi honey, how'd your talk with Professor Oak go?' she questioned.

'Well, as it turns out there was a league I hadn't heard of after all, I'm headed to the Eclipse Islands,' Ash explained as Pikachu bounced excitedly on his shoulder.

'Pi-ka!'

'Really? I've never heard of that, but it sounds like a lot of fun,' she said happily.

'I'm going to see if I can get the others to come before I head down to the islands,' he explained.

'Iris and Cilan?' Delia asked confusedly.

'…Actually no,' he said after a long moment, 'The others, I'm going to head to Cerulean City it the morning to talk to Misty. But first I've got to watch the Grand Festival in Johto, check up on how May's going, it's the appeals today right?'

His mother turned around in surprise before saying, 'That was three days ago Ash Ketchum,' she she said crossly, 'I told you to come down and watch it with me but you were to busy sulking. It's the semi-finals today, you're just lucky May made it through to them because if she hadn't you'd have missed it all, and if you don't turn on the TV now, then you will!'

Ash swore and bolted from the room, ignoring his mothers call of, 'Language!' as he ran from the room.

He grabbed the remote, flicking through the channels till he found the coordinator channel, turning it on, just in time to hear the phrase, 'The Princess of Hoenn may have suffered a startling loss but today we congratulate Harley from Slateport City for his tremendous come from behind win.'

Ash gaped at the TV as the camera focused in on May's positively heartbroken expression, her bright blue eyes fringed with tears. Sucking in deep, shaking breaths as her shuddering hands withdrew Glaceon and Blaziken, the two Pokémon looking more injured and battered than he'd ever seen him. He'd never known contest battles to end so brutally before.

'Oh god no,' Ash whispered, as he realised not just what had happened, but why it must have as well.

Why it happened was all too clear when he saw the superior smirk that had ricocheted across Harley's features. Withdrawing his Cacturne and Banette, eyes glinting almost evilly at May as he mimed blowing her a kiss, proving all too well to Ash that this hadn't been fair play in the slightest.

'No, not to Harley of all people…' Ash whispered to himself.

'What's going on Ash?' Delia called from the kitchen.

Even as Ash looked up though, Pikachu pulled on his pant leg, 'Pipi ka pi-i!' The electric type exclaimed turning Ash's attention back to the TV.

Ash turned to see May storming into the middle of the field, while Harley waltzed up to meet her looking smug even as she practically screamed, 'That was a cheap trick and you know it Harley! You aren't fooling me for a second! You cheated!'

'Oh prove it little missy, I did no such thing!' he denied even though Ash didn't for a second believe that Harley had done anything but cheat since the moment he'd shown up, 'You just need to grow up and face the facts. I'm a better co-ordinator now than you'll ever be.'

'You cheated!' May screamed desperately, 'You cheated!'

May almost lunged at Harley as the announcer was forced to pull them apart, 'Enough, this is no way to react to a loss,' the woman said, 'Now shake hands honourably and exit the stage.'

May was positively vibrating in anger as Harley pouted at May and offered him his hand to shake. But eyes glowing with rage, May took one look at the person who'd just cost her so much and slammed her heel down on Harley's toes and with a cry of anguish she exited the stage. Harley seemed a cross between amused and furious as he hopped up and down on one foot, clearly knowing what that had just done to May's reputation, as he yelled after her to only increase the damage:

'Who knew the so called Princess of Hoenn would be such a sore loser!' he cat called after her as she disappeared from view.

Ash gaped at the television in shock. He could hardly believe what he'd just seen. He'd had his fair share of arguments with May, when you travel with someone for a year and a half of course they were going to fight. But he'd never seen her get angry enough to strike someone, let alone on camera in front of millions of people watching world wide.

But as he thought of this he couldn't help but realise that if May had beat Harley, it would have sent her into the finals. Something that would giver her a shot at the Ribbon Cup, the title of Top Coordinator, her ultimate dream. And she'd lost that to someone as callous and maniacal as Harley was, it must have been heartbreaking, especially seeing as his victory had come through cheating.

He couldn't help but wish that he could be there to help her through this. He hoped Max, her mother or her father were there in Johto to watch her, and that they could help her through this. But he doubted they'd understand. Max wasn't quite ten yet, he'd never had a dream like this snatched out from underneath him, he may take everything that happens to May personally, but he wouldn't be able to handle this. Her mother had never gone on a Pokémon journey herself from the stories that he'd heard over the years. And as much as it was likely that Norman might understand to some degree, the two had never been close due to May's segregation to him growing up afraid of Pokémon.

Even as he struggled to process what May was going through, he heard more applause coming from the TV screen and he realised the second semi-final was beginning. One of the competitors was Drew, who was versing a rather haughty looking purple-haired girl. Drew pulled out his two Pokéballs, seeming to hesitate for a second as the girl sent her Volbeat and Illumise into battle. But his jaw tightened and he said one thing that made Ash realise that May did have someone with her that would definitely understand. Drew had narrowly lost in the finals of the Hoenn Grand Festival, if anyone understood what May was going through, it had to be Drew. And it was all too clear that he was going to help her through it as he cast his Pokéball's into the air, declaring:

'Flygon, Lumineon, let's win this one for May.'

Ash was only half focused on the contest battle when his mother walked in, bubbles still popping on her rubber gloves, 'Ash dear, what's going on?'

'…May just lost; to Harley of all people, and by the look of it, he cheated, as per usual,' Ash sighed heavily, thinking of the Hoenn friend he hadn't seen in over a year.

'The poor thing!' Delia exclaimed, 'Will she be okay?'

'Well it's May,' Ash shrugged, 'So no, she's not going to be for a while, but she will be in the end. She'll take some time to process it, but well, let's hope in the end this set back results in a thoroughly more determined May.'

...

'May? May, are you in there?' Drew called as he knocked on the door of the room they'd been sharing in the Pokémon Centre.

'The door isn't locked. You can come in Drew,' came a glum but recognisable voice from inside.

Drew opened the door, entering carefully, not sure how she would be after that loss as he found her curled in a little ball on the bottom bunk. Her bright blue eyes were rubbed red and raw with tears, her coffee coloured hair matted and a clear mess from where he was standing. She vaguely unfolded her slim form from the crumpled heap she'd been lying in, though he could see from here the marks on her lightly tanned skin from where she'd been gripping herself so tight she left red marks. He moved hastily, to her side, taking her hand out of instinct, but before he could say anything she decided she didn't want to talk about it.

'How'd your match go?'

He gave her a stubborn look to let her know they were talking about it whether she liked it or not and said, 'I'm more concerned with how you are right now, look what Harley did was completely heinous and-'

'I blew it Drew!' May suddenly cut across him, the tears in her eyes overflowing and dropping into her lap even as he remained shocked by the outburst, 'It's nothing to do with Harley! If I was a stronger trainer I would have beat him regardless of what he did!'

'You can't talk like that now May-' he tried to say but she interrupted him again.

'You should have seen the look on Nurse Joy's face when I brought her Blaziken and Glaceon! She came out from the recovery room saying that I should have forfeited before I let them get into the condition they were!' she exclaimed.

'I've already talked to the Nurse, she says they'll be fine, you have nothing to worry about-'

'How are my Pokémon supposed to trust me after this?! What did such amazing Pokémon do to deserve such a pathetic coordinator to train them?!'

'May!' he had to yell to get her to let him speak, but he regretted yelling the minute he did as she looked at him for a few seconds before bursting into tears, gasping for air as she wept.

'What am I supposed to do?' she whispered.

'Hey, hey, hey,' he said soothingly, trying to get her to relax, 'I know what you're going through May. I know how hard it is, but you're going to get through it. This is no harder a question to answer after your loss against me in Hoenn, or Solidad in Kanto, you're going to take a break, take a breath and get stronger. This might have been to Harley of all people, but I know you, and that's not what you care about.'

'Oh really? Then why am I crying?' she demanded angrily.

'The dream,' he said simply, and she practically froze at that word, 'The dream that has drove you since the day you decided to be a co-ordinator. The dream that drove you to travel across three regions, to set out by yourself and discover who you really were and what you were capable of. The dream that took so much work to get closer to it, the dream that you were willing to do anything to achieve it. That was taken away from you at higher stakes and harsher than ever before, and that is why you're crying. What hurts even more is that you're Pokémon got hurt after working so hard, that they were made to seem weak by a clown with no respect for anyone but himself. That is why you're crying.'

May looked at him, before practically crashing her head into his shoulder and he awkwardly hugged her in response, it was nearly ten minutes till either of them spoke as May said, 'I don't know how that made me feel better but somehow it did… vaguely.'

'Well the most confusing thing about being upset is when you're not sure exactly what's making you feel that way,' Drew shrugged, but still speaking in a very careful tone, 'And what's going to make you feel a little better still is the fact that you get a chance to have someone completely crush the person who dared to make a fool out of you.'

'What?' May asked, sounding tired and sad, yet intrigued at the same time.

'Well I did win the semi final now didn't I?' he offered.

'Congratulations,' she said, with a slight return of her old smile, 'I know how much the title would mean to you, you're going to be great out there tonight-'

'But I know it would mean more to you,' he said quietly, and May looked unsure why he would bring this up when she was just feeling better until he said, 'I… I was considering throwing the finals if I ended up against you.'

'Wait… what?' May asked, sure she hadn't heard him right.

'I'm going to the finals tonight and I'm going to crush Harley like the little insect he is, to make the world see what he truly is, a fraud,' he said earnestly, getting to his feet, letting go of her hand, 'The title should go to whoever it means more to, whoever deserves it, and Harley doesn't deserve anything more than humiliation.'

'Drew…' May whispered.

'It would mean… so much to me, if you could come see the match tonight,' he said shakily.

Drew's calm, cool and collected exterior seemed to be breaking for a moment. And as if he could sense it he exited the room hastily, walking away from May as fast as he could. Not seeming to be able to get out of there quick enough, leaving May in a stunned silence as she stared after him. Not feeling too upset at all anymore, just oddly… touched.

...

'Imbeciles!' came the yell from the man in the high backed chair, 'You have failed me yet again!'

'But-' the pink haired girl tried to interrupt.

'Your failures in Unova have cost me greatly, you are hence forth fired from Team Rocket!'

'But boss-' the purple haired man tried to rectify.

'No excuses, no buts, and don't call me boss because you are no longer part of Team Rocket. Jessie. James. Meowth. You are expelled from my organisation. Dismissed. You're being let go. Do you understand me or aren't I being clear enough for you dunderheads?'

'But it wasn't Meowth's fault!' the cat Pokémon tried.

'I have no room in this organisation for pathetic dead weights like you!'

'But sir!' Jessie begged.

'Is there anything we can do to possibly make you reconsider?!' James pleaded.

'You'd have to prove to me that you aren't useless. But seeing as you spent six years of my money and resources tracking down a single Pikachu without catching it I very much doubt that you can do anything but make bigger idiots of yourselves!'

'But sir-'

'Get out of my office right now! Security!'

* * *

**Updated: 9th of July 2013**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Ash couldn't help but smile to himself as he came across the old sign post in the middle of the road. The sign that pointed the way to Cerulean City. He could remember vividly the first time he came across this sign, they'd just come from Mt Moon, and Misty had a massive freak out about hearing that he planned to go to Cerulean City. She had a fall out with her sisters and was willing to do anything to stay away, she had insisted there were monster Pokémon, and made the most ridiculous face. He started laughing now at the memory of it, and was still laughing for the next ten minutes, laughing so hard that Pikachu who'd fallen asleep in his backpack was woken up. It was moments like those which stuck in his brain that reminded him how great it had been traveling with Misty. He really did miss those days.

After a while he spotted the city on the horizon and his heart soared, he was already going over the way to the gym in his head. Pikachu was bouncing in excitement, and before he even knew quite why, he started running down the hill towards the city. Pikachu was laughing as he ran, but was clutching on for dear life at the same time, and within a few minutes, he pulled up in front of the Cerulean Gym, a smile lighting his face, but just as he neared the doors, a kid ran out looking upset.

'Hey what's wrong?' he asked.

The kid just looked up at him before bursting into tears and running and from behind him he heard, 'Wow Misty is not in a good mood today.'

He recognised Daisy's voice instantly, but then he heard Violet's voice, 'Not that she'd ever admit why.'

'She thinks were idiots, she thinks we don't know she's annoyed with us because it's the anniversary of the day we pulled her out of her Pokémon journey,' Lily's voice responded.

'She's not annoyed with us because of that,' Daisy sighed, 'She's annoyed because Ash doesn't make an effort to see her and this day reminds her of that.'

He could barely handle hearing this so he stepped straight in the door and said, 'I'm here aren't I?'

The three sisters looked up from where they were leaning against the walls in their swimsuits talking, and instantly all of them seemed to light up. Daisy much to his own surprise ran over and hugged him, he could barely breath through her volumes of blonde hair. But even as she let him go Violet and Lily pulled him into a hug as well, and it was clear that Violet had been swimming recently because when she let go there was a massive patch of water on his side.

'What are you doing here?' Violet trilled.

'Well I was hoping to talk to Misty, is she around.'

'Yeah, maybe you'll be able to cheer her up,' Lily giggled.

'God knows she won't listen to us.'

'Is she really in that much of a bad mood?'

'Yup,' all three sisters replied.

'Come on Ash,' Daisy said and began dragging him up the corridor, 'She's in the gym, she just finished another match, you know she's in a bad mood when she set her Gyarados on a newbie trainer.'

'Misty would do that?'

'Once again, she's not in a good mood,' Violet shrugged.

'I've never known Misty to be in such a bad mood that she'd-'

'They only started to happen when she saw how quickly you replaced her with a short-skirted girl, giggly moron,' Daisy sighed.

'What?!'

'Oh I have no comments, I'm quoting Misty,' Daisy shrugged.

'If I replaced her then why would I be here to see if there was any possible away she could travel with me again?!' he demanded.

All three sisters whipped around, 'You are?'

'I'm headed to the Eclipse Islands, and if I'm going with anybody I want it to be Misty,' he muttered unable to look at them for some reason.

The sisters all exchanged glances, but then Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room where he knew that the gym battles took place. Ash's mouth fell wide open as he looked around, it had certainly had changed since the last time he was here, which must have been nearly four years ago. It was far different from the floating mats and the happy rainbow Seel, it looked far more like a proper Pokémon gym. The room was flooded with light from the windows that took up the entire back wall, reflecting the ocean directly outside the gym. The pool was filled with much tougher Pokémon, including a Golduck that he was stunned to see, and a giant Gyarados and Pokémon that looked so tough that he didn't even understand what had happened. The platforms that the trainers were stood on were changed, with grey metal platforms with railings around the edge and a bright blue light around the edge to illuminate the water. Six or so young people were in the water with the Pokémon, they barely glanced up as Ash and the three sisters entered, they must have been trainers at the gym, but he really didn't realise Misty was considered old enough to have apprentices. But he looked around being able to find Misty until he noticed the tall white, marble platform near the windows, and facing away from him, staring off into the ocean was the girl who must undoubtedly be Misty, but at the same time he just didn't seem to be able to process it as her.

But then she turned around and he knew that it had to be her. Her blue-green eyes locked on him, her red hair now down to the middle of her back swished around her face, held back by two triangular yellow clips to keep part of her fringe out of her face. She was wearing a long, blue, mermaid tail skirt, and a red and yellow bikini top. One of her cascade badges was on a chain around her neck, and as she turned to face him, her hand moved to clutch the pendant in a reflex action.

Misty's look of shock got the attention of the gym trainers, who all leapt out of the pool, all looking strangely intimidating as their Pokémon surrounded them, all of them had glares fixed on Ash. The most intimidating of the lot was a dark haired boy who's Vaporeon was moving towards him, growling.

'Ah...'

'Pika...'

'Pikachu don't,' he warned.

'Enough!' came a sharp call from Misty, 'Back in the pool!'

The six trainers dived straight back into the pool, not even hesitating at Misty's command, and Misty slowly began walking down the stand towards him. He couldn't help the smile that flitted onto his face as she walked around the edge of the pool seeming cautious, like she wasn't sure what was going on, and soon she was standing less then a meter away from him.

He smiled at her, 'Misty-'

He'd barely gotten the word out of his mouth before Misty smacked him around the head roughly with her hand before pushing him straight into the pool and snapping loudly, 'Don't you dare talk to me Ash Ketchum!'

And than she stormed straight out of the room. Ash struggled to get out of the pool choking on the water, but the moment he got out he felt himself get blasted into the wall nearby by a hydro pump.

'Ow!'

'You're him?' hissed a voice.

The boy he'd noticed before, a rather smug looking Vaporeon at his heels, was glaring at him, 'How dare you come back into her life when she was just getting over you!'

'What are you talking about?!'

'You need to get the hell out of Misty's life!'

'And who are you to say that? She's my best friend!'

'I'm Leith, her best apprentice, and I've been trying to help Misty recover after you abandoned her!'

'Abandon her?! It was her decision to leave! And seeing as she couldn't leave the gym behind, she had to stay! Do you know how hard it was to see her have to stay here?! The place where she'd _never_ been happy!'

'Pikachu!'

'You could have made more of an effort to see her at the very least! You've been back for over a month and only now you come to see her! Every time you've come back into her life she's left with some deluded hope that she could leave with you again when she's needed here!'

'Look kid, just because you have some deluded crush on Misty does not mean you have the right to control her life,' the snarky response flew out of his mouth before he could respond, so he rectified it by saying quickly, 'no one does. She makes her own decisions and does what she knows is right. No matter how much it hurts her. And that's the most admirable thing about Misty.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about-'

'Yeah right,' all three of the sensational sisters said perfectly in sync.

'Come with me Ash, I'll get you a towel,' Violet said sounding oddly concerned.

'Lily you stay here and supervise the students, I'm going to go talk to Misty,' Daisy said.

'We don't need a baby sitter-' Leith began.

'Get back in the pool you little bastard and listen to my sister or you get the hell out of my gym,' Daisy snapped.

'What happened to her?' Ash muttered to Violet as she started pulling him off.

'I'll explain later.'

...

'About six months ago, Daisy was dating this guy, she really like him, heck she almost loved him, but then she found out he was cheating on her.'

'Ouch, what did she do?'

'She confronted him of course, but he didn't even deny it, he said that she was just a pretty face and that a girl without a brain wasn't worth monogamy.'

'...Wow.'

'Daisy hasn't really forgotten what he said, she's been in here every day training like crazy, like she's trying to prove that she's got more than her looks, she's been getting more authoritative as well, and more prone to snapping at people. She's changing but I think it might be for the better.'

'Do you think there's anyway she'd be able to talk Misty around?'

'Well probably, especially when she tells her why you came here in the first place. Misty has missed traveling with you so much that she hasn't been quite right since she got back, honestly I think it would be good for her to go on another adventure with you. She's much to big for such a small place, her talents could take her way further than just being a gym leader, she deserves more,' Violet said quietly.

Ash was about to respond, but then he realised something, the sisters had never been this nice to him before, 'What that guy said... you're not taking it seriously are you?'

'No- A little I guess, our whole life we've got by on looks and a little bit of dancing, it's not enough.'

...

'Hey Misty.'

'I don't want to talk about it Daisy,' the red head muttered.

'Sure you don't, but we're going to, why're you so mad at him?'

'Because he just turns up out of the blue and expects everything to be okay? I was here the whole time; he knew where I was the whole time. I had no idea what country he was in half the time, but I still managed to see him. But at the same time, if I hadn't made an effort to see him, I wouldn't have seen him since our Johto journeys ended.'

'Not true.'

'It's true.'

'Misty, have you heard about the Eclipse Islands?'

'No, but it sounds romantic, wait why are we changing the subject?'

'We're not, that's where Ash wants to take you.'

'He does?'

'He said it hasn't been the same without you, he didn't have any idea what we were talking about when we said that he replaced you. And frankly he shouldn't, there is no replacement for you Misty and you know it.'

'...But... I can't leave the gym... he knows that.'

'Which makes it all the more touching he's here, he knows it's unlikely but he's still willing to make sure even if it upsets him more.'

'...I just don't know... I can't leave... But I'm not even sure whether or not I'd want to go. I just- I don't know,' Misty whispered.

'Misty, you can go and you will go,' Daisy said forcefully.

'Huh?'

'I can take over the gym, and talent like yours is too big for a place like this, I always knew it, you can't become as strong as you could be here, with only rookie trainers to challenge, go to the Eclipse Islands with Ash, I know about the league over there, it's where Hydie's gym is, and you know how good she is. Maybe something in the air over there makes people ridiculously tough; I think going there could help you Misty, you have to go.'

'But Daisy-'

'I swear that I won't give away the badges for free, I'm going to make them work for those badges, no one has won a cascade badge in last six months Misty, you're too strong, I'm nowhere near as good as you but I'm tough enough to uphold the reputation of the Cerulean Gym. Please Misty.'

'… But…'

'Misty, he came here for you before he went to talk to anyone else, if he wants anyone to come it's you, give it a shot Misty, the gym isn't going anywhere, but you are, you can always come back if it doesn't work out.'

'…Okay.'

'Okay?'

'Okay.'

…

Ash was still talking to Violet, she was asking him all sorts of tips on battling and he was more than happy to help her out, but that's when he felt a towel hit him in the head. He looked up to see Misty, a slight smirk on her face, a bag slung over her shoulder, Pokéball's on a belt at her hips, and she'd changed into what was clearly, travelling clothes. He looked at her in shock, but she just continued to smirk before saying quite calmly;

'Are you coming or what?'

…

'So… are you still mad at me?'

'I'm always mad at you,' Misty said off handedly.

'But you're really coming.'

'I'm too big for a little place like this.'

'In what sense is Cerulean City small?' Ash asked.

'Oh shut up. So is it just the two of us? Because that could get problematic with the rate we argue.'

'Do you know where Brock is?'

'Celadon City.'

'Shall we go?'

'I think we shall.'


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

'What now?' May sighed as she looked over the railing.

'There's always Sinnoh, they have a great contest circuit,' Drew reminded.

'You just won the Grand Festival, and you're already thinking about the next competition,' May laughed.

'As much as beating Harley was my pleasure, I don't want to stop competing any time soon, Contests is what I'm made to do,' he grinned at her.

'I know what you mean… But I feel like there's some where I need to be other than the Sinnoh right now, I mean, Max's birthday is next week, he'll be getting his first Pokémon and then he'll start taking on gyms,' May sighed seeming oddly reminiscent.

'Well no where else really has a circuit that we haven't competed in yet May, but then again, contests are never the same so it really wouldn't matter if we did the circuit again.'

'…Drew, as great as it's been traveling with you, honestly, I feel like traveling with Brock, Max and Ash were some of the greatest adventures of my life.'

'You know I was always kind of jealous of you guys, you never had a dull day, not even once, most of the time it was just me and my Pokémon and well… it was never quite as exciting because every time I ran into you, something was always happening on top of the traveling and the contests.'

'Well… Half of it was caused by Team Rocket; I mean honestly, they never gave up on capturing Pikachu or other powerful Pokémon. And the rest of the fun we made ourselves… Max says he wants to get some experience before he goes and starts challenging gyms.'

'He's a smart kid, he knows it's best to get some practice in first,' Drew shrugged.

'Well… I was talking to Professor Oak yesterday, he said that Ash had finally decided to head to the Eclipse Islands.'

'The Eclipse Islands? He's going there?'

'You know about them?'

'Vaguely… Mostly through stories, and a couple of articles I've read. Apparently it's one of the only places in the world where Pokémon from all five regions can be found. A few of the gym trainers have been known to compete in contests as well, so I've read about them. Hydra their water trainer is ridiculously good; she's won three Grand Festivals on top of her gym work. They've offered her positions in the Elite Four but she keeps declining.'

'Wow, Ash is going to have his work cut out for him trying to beat her, Dad's being trying to become an Elite Four trainer for years but he keeps on reminding us that Agatha isn't dead yet.'

'Why don't you go with Ash?'

'Huh?'

'I'm sure he'd be glad to have you, anyway, the Pokémon would be brilliant there, you'd be able to catch some of the most extraordinary in the world, and of course the amount of things you could learn from the gym trainers. You'd get so many ideas by just seeing a frame of their battles. And of course you could get some more training in, the Sinnoh Grand Festival is held at a weird time of the year, it isn't happening for another five months and it would be harder to earn the ribbons in that time rather than the year we usually have.'

'…I'll think about it, I'll talk to Max first, I promised I'd take him to find that Ralts he befriended years ago, they promised each other that Ralts would be his first Pokémon… You know Drew, if I'm gonna go, you'd be more than welcome to come.'

Drew offered her a simple shrug and said, 'I'll think about it.'

…

It had been two weeks since Misty and Ash had set out to Celadon City to find Brock, and Ash couldn't help but notice how much she'd changed. She seemed more serious, less prone to arguments, and less cheerful. And even worse she was quiet. There used to be nothing she'd hide from him. And now she seemed oddly… distant.

She was still carrying that Azuril in a little pouch, but all that made him think of was how it wasn't Togepi, well Togetic, who was still in the Mirage Kingdom. He couldn't help but wonder if Misty blamed him for that, because if she hadn't come to meet up with him in Hoenn, then the whole debacle that made Togepi evolve and have to leave wouldn't have happened.

Misty continued walking silently; she didn't seem to want to talk to him. He knew he had a chance, she'd come, but whether that was because she wanted to go or because she wanted to shut Daisy up. Either of which was plausible. Pikachu was dancing along ahead of them, not even seeming to notice the awkwardness between the two.

'So I noticed your Psyduck evolved.'

'Yes,' she said shortly.

He hesitated, she clearly didn't want to talk, but maybe her sisters were right when they said Misty perceived as he abandoned her, so he decided to remind her how much he knew about her, 'Remember the first time we found Psyduck? When Hypno had accidentally brainwashed all those kids into thinking that they were animals, and then you somehow decided you were a Seel.'

Misty still wasn't saying anything, so he continued, 'We finally got Drowzee to snap you out of it. And all those kids as well, who all ran off shouting about what they were going to be when they grew up. Then we went back to the Pokémon Centre and helped all of the Pokémon, and then there was still Psyduck there, with its usual headache.'

'And Brock to kiss up to Nurse Joy offered to take it,' Misty said quietly.

'And while he was trying to convince you to take it, you dropped a Pokéball.'

'And Psyduck pretty much let itself in.'

'You were so angry, you took a Pokédex reading of it and after finding out it always had a headache then you almost killed Brock.'

'And to think it's now one of my best Pokémon,' Misty said a smile coming across her face.

'Golduck must be an amazing Pokémon to be one of the best you own, when did it evolve?'

'I found it evolved last Christmas when I came home.'

'Came home from where?'

'Your mum invited me down,' she said quietly, 'She and I have spent a lot of time together lately, she misses you when you're gone.'

'Really? She couldn't wait to get me out of the house when I came back.'

'Because she knows if you stop moving you'll drive yourself insane until you figure out one thing you can settle down and do without going mad.'

'I'm not that bad am I?'

'Kind of.'

'I guess that's why we don't see each other enough, I can't stop moving and it hasn't been till now that you could leave, it was very nice of Daisy to take over the gym.'

'I knew it would happen one day, something just needed to happen to toughen her up, out of all of my sisters I've always seen more eye to eye with her.'

'Yeah it's Lily who drives you crazy.'

'Huh?'

'Oh come on, Violet does a little but more because she mothers you when no one's looking, but it's Lily who teases you the most.'

'There's no way I told you that,' she said suspiciously.

'Sometimes you don't need to tell someone something when they know you well enough,' he said grinning at her.

Misty seemed slightly uncomfortable for some reason but then glancing up she suddenly beamed and yelled, 'Hey! There's Celadon City!'

Ash glanced up at the horizon, giving out a little whoop of excitement, then took one look at her knowing that Misty would never be able to resist the challenge, 'Race you to the Pokémon Centre.'

…

'Just go on your lunch break Brock.'

'Care to join me Nurse Joy? I know a brilliant little Italian place I know you'll love-'

'Leave!'

Seeing the anger in her face, he hastily turned and walked away, he'd figure out where to stop after a while, and he knew that Nurse Joy's patience with him was wearing thin. He was nearly done packing up his things when two figures barreled through the door, before he heard a loud argument start up.

'Ha! I win!'

'You do not you took off before me!'

'Oh please, I beat you fair and square now stop being such a sore loser!'

'I'm not being a sore loser! I won!'

'Did not!'

'Did so!'

'Misty? Ash?' he asked in a stunned voice.

The red headed teenage girl, whipped around, a beam setting on Brock instantly. The dark haired boy, hair crushed under a baseball cap, was grinning like mad as he looked at him, the Pikachu on his shoulder waving at him enthusiastically. And very quickly the three found themselves in a group hug that no one was entirely sure who'd started it.

'Hey-o Brock-o,' Ash laughed.

'It's s good to see you,' Misty chirped.

'Pika Pi!;

'What are you three doing here?' Brock exclaimed in amazement and without fail included Pikachu in the numbers.

'Here to talk to you of course,' Ash grinned.

'Can you talk right now or are you busy?' Misty asked.

'Ah-' he looked around to Nurse Joy who gave him a "leave me alone" look, and he smiled at his two young friends, 'You got me at a good time, come on, let's get you guys some food. You look like you're starving.'

'Am I ever!'

'You're always hungry!'

'Some things never change Misty.'

…

'The Eclipse Islands?'

Both Ash and Misty nodded, 'Ash is going to compete in the league over there, it's apparently the most challenging in the world.'

'Apparently? It definitely is,' Brock clarified, 'I've seen the battle Cynthia won that got her to be able to challenge the Sinnoh Champion at the time, it was brutal. All the gym trainers there are far to good for their own good, Team Rocket would be unstoppable by anyone else but the trainers there if they had even one of their Pokémon.'

'Really?'

'Honestly Ash, you know I have as more faith in you then anyone, but are you sure you can do this?' Brock asked.

'Maybe I can, maybe I can't, either way I'm going to try like hell.'

'Basically his usual method,' Misty said eying Ash as she stole one of his french fries, but then turned to Brock and said, 'So are you coming with us?'

'Huh?'

'Brock, imagine the opportunities you could find on the island, the Pokémon there must be some of the most remarkable variety in the world, and I've even heard of some Pokémon that have been discovered only can be evolved in the Eclipse Islands. The things you could learn-'

'Ash, I'm going to be a doctor, I don't want to be a breeder anymore-'

'Don't lie to us Brock,' Misty said shortly, 'You want to be a breeder more than anything else in the world, your lying to yourself and to us if you claim that you want to be a doctor more than a breeder.'

'But-'

'Brock, we know you're lying, you felt like you hadn't accomplished anything as a breeder so you came up with this delusion, you settled for being a doctor because you doubted you could become what you always wanted to be, and that's who you really are, a breeder.'

'What exactly does a breeder do anyway!?' Brock snapped, 'No one knows really! There's not a set path for us like it is for you two, you need to battle the gyms and the league's yada yada yada. You just need to play around in the water! No one knows how to become a proper breeder, I've got no one who can tell me how I'm supposed to-'

'Sorry I couldn't help but over hearing,' chirped a voice.

Brock stopped half way through his rant and looked up, Ash and Misty were far to busy staring at Brock who had lost his temper for the first time in a long time, but they realised it was clearly still the same Brock who practically started drooling when he saw the girl. She was a tall girl with long blonde curls in a high ponytail that flicked around constantly, she seemed to be on some sort of energy high as she fiddled around, swaying side to side, unable to hold still. Her eyes were a bright, warm brown, and her smile wide, bright and honest. She was in a bright green summer dress tied with a black belt around her waist, and little sandals were on her feet.

'Well hello there!' Brock began but before he could say anything else the girl went straight to talking over the top of him.

'I heard you were headed to the Eclipse Islands and after that I couldn't stop listening, if you're a breeder, if you want to be one, then the Eclipse Islands would be the best place to learn about them. It's so isolated from everywhere else that for a very long time there weren't people or Pokémon there apart from in the seas. But the gym leaders started a big breeding project there and now nearly every single type of Pokémon in the world is there. And there are so many Pokémon that have been discovered just because of the islands, the leaders are amazing there, and nearly all of them have a pretty extensive knowledge on Pokémon breeding. Oh especially the Grass type leader Vi, she's ridiculously good at that. There's no end to what you could learn in the Eclipse Islands. And I think it would be ridiculously sad for someone who clearly wants to be a breeder so much to give it away because he can't just be confident in himself and- Sorry I'm rambling, sorry to interrupt. Buh-bye!'

The girl giggled absent mindedly and flushed and skipped off before any of them could get a word in, disappearing out the door very quickly, a tall blonde guy sighed getting up from a near by booth, 'Sorry about my sister, it's just a really bad idea to give her coffee, she's not usually like this.'

'No problem at all,' Brock sighed still staring after her in some haze of deluded gushy thoughts.

He chucked some notes onto the table and walked out the door after her muttering to himself, '_Never_ letting that girl have caffeine _ever_ again.'

'That was kinda... weird,' Misty commented.

'I'll come.'

'Huh?' both Misty and Ash said in surprise.

'I'll come with you to the Eclipse Islands, I'll have to tell Nurse Joy I'm leaving, but I'll come,' he babbled.

'This is because that girl is pretty isn't it?' Misty sighed.

'No! She just had some rather good points and-'

Ash sighed shaking his head at his old friend, 'We've already told you we know when you're lying Brock.'


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

'I caught Ralts! I got my first Pokémon! I'm finally a trainer! I'm-'

'I wonder who caught who,' Drew muttered very quietly.

May elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt slightly, and Max turned around, the grin lighting his face ridiculous, 'I caught a Pokémon!'

'Arguably your Pokémon jumped straight into the Pokéball Max,' Drew pointed out.

'Well it's still in my Pokéball therefore I caught it.'

'Okay calming down,' May said eying Drew in a "play nicely," way, 'So Max, now that you're an official Pokémon trainer, what do you want to do?'

'...I don't know really May,' Max said after a long moment, 'I was just focused on getting a Pokémon I really didn't think about it. I haven't thought about what league I want to enter or how I'd do it alone. I mean you were lucky May, you ran into Ash before you even got your Pokémon.'

'Well it's up to you Max, running into Ash was a stroke of luck and chaos at the same time-'

'Tell him May,' Drew said calmly.

'Tell me what?'

'Well... ah...'

'Ash is headed to the Eclipse Islands,' Drew said.

'Wow! The Eclipse Islands!? The Eclipse League!? That's amazing! He'll do so well! I know he will! Wait a second, if I go to the Eclipse Islands then I could get all my training done before I face the gyms and then it'll be so much easier and I could travel with Ash again! What do you think May?!'

'See it's really not to hard at all to talk him into things May, I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't even have to mention that you wanted to go with Ash, but wouldn't if Max wanted you to go with him,' Drew laughed.

'Really?' Max asked looking up at his sister.

'It was a vague concept in the back of my mind,' May muttered, but then brightened when she realised that she was going to get to go, 'Come on, let's find a phone, we better let Ash know we're coming with him whether he likes it or not. Oh by the way Drew, have you decided whether or not your coming?'

'Still considering,' Drew said in his usual "not caring" angle.

'Pretend you don't care all you want Drew, you were still going to throw the Grand Festival if we ended up against each other,' May sighed and began to walk towards the Pokémon centre.

'Oh come on, I just said that to make you feel better-'

'You're not fooling anyone Drew,' Max laughed as he ran after his sister.

Drew shook his head, watching the two siblings walk off and silently thinking to himself, that he wished he had a family like May's, she was so close to Max and her parents adored her. And of course Ash and Brock had been practically like extra members of the family, and even though she hadn't seen either of them in a little less than a year, she still talked about them like they were still her family.

He wondered if May knew how hard it was for him to show that he cared, that he had gone his whole life trying to hide it, and somehow she made him want to care in some sort of strange way. He stared after her, still thinking about whether or not, him being who he was, was worth risking by hanging around with May for extended periods of time, he'd travelled with her on and off through Johto, he'd always managed to pull away before he revealed to much of himself. But now... something about May was making him want to risk it. So inhaling deeply, in a way trying to brace himself, he prepared himself to tell her that he wanted to come.

...

'So it's not going to be the three of us after all?' Misty asked seeming slightly annoyed, even though Ash couldn't understand why.

'May and Max have decided that they wanted to come, and they're bringing Drew with them.'

'Whose Drew?' Misty asked.

'May's rival, but with the amount of roses he's given her there's an obvious crush going on for him on her, not sure about May, when we saw them together May was really only getting to the age when she'd start to understand it,' Brock grinned.

'Wait he's a coordinator?' Misty asked.

'Yeah,' both boys replied.

'As in the kid who just won the Johto Grand Festival?'

'And avenged May's loss after what that bastard Harley did to her.'

'Harley? What did he do to May? I only watched the finals when Violet dragged me in.'

'Harley is a notorious cheater, and seeing as May is May, she keeps giving him chance after chance to prove he's a good person. He convinces her then tried to stop her ever achieving her dreams, and May's never in a good place. Lately his cheating's gotten more brutal you could say,' Ash explained, 'I didn't see what Harley did, but if he riled May up so much she'd actually stomp him, then something is clearly very bad.'

'She said she wants to do some more intensive training before she goes to her next contest circuit, and she wants to watch out for Max while he's on the first few months of his Pokémon journey,' Brock added.

'I can't believe Max has finally gotten his first Pokémon,' Ash laughed.

'He's more ready for it then you ever were Ash, I mean honestly, he wants to train before he starts taking on gyms, you just crashed through the door and got your ass whooped,' Misty commented grinning at Brock who started laughing like a maniac.

'Oh come on! I was ten!'

'And even at sixteen you still kind of are,' Misty teased.

'And you're not?'

'At least I've grown since I was ten, you're still a shrimp.'

'It's a genetic condition,' Ash insisted, even though he was just yet to hit his growth spurt.

'Is not!'

'Is so!'

'Is not!'

'Is so!"

'And to think I actually missed having to break up these fights.'

'Pika pika.'

...

'Congratulations to Marina of New Bark Town, the winner of this year's Hoenn League and our new Top Coordinator!'

Dawn sighed and turned off the TV, stroking Piplup's head gently, 'I'm sorry we couldn't make it to the finals Piplup.'

'Pip.'

'No need to worry, we'll get them next time,' she smiled.

'Lup Piplup.'

Suddenly a phone went off in her room and hastily she went to answer it, 'Hello?'

'Dawn?'

'Ash!' she cheered recognizing the voice.

She hastily flicked the screen on to include images and she grinned at him, 'How're you?'

'I'm pretty good, about to head out on my next adventure. But heard you didn't end up going so well in the Grand Festival.'

'I got to the top sixteen, but I never realised how much harder Pokémon contests were in Hoenn, the Grand Festival was ridiculously good, even Zoey didn't make it past the top eight.'

'Well, that just means you need to think more about your battles, you always did spend too much time thinking about appeals.'

'I know, they were just such a problem for me early on that I've been trying to focus more on them. But anyway, where are you headed?'

'The Eclipse Islands, me, Misty and Brock are going to catch a boat to Slateport City tomorrow, and then the next day onto the Eclipse Islands.'

'You're traveling with Misty again?' Dawn asked sharply, hoping she hadn't heard that.

'Yeah, her sisters agreed to take over the gym again, and Misty was always too good for just a gym leader anyway. And in true Brock style when a pretty girl talked to him in a diner about not giving up on being a breeder, he decided it give it another shot. We're meeting up with May, Max and Drew in the islands, they all want to do some more training before they choose their own paths so it's almost all of us together again. Well, except for you.'

'…Well… I'd consider doing some training for a time, and I'd love to finally meet Misty, you've told me so much about her,' Dawn said carefully.

'You would?'

'Yeah, it sounds like fun, besides, I've missed traveling with you Ash.'

'Well it wouldn't be the same without you,' Ash grinned, 'Are you in Slateport still?'

'Sure am, I'll meet you when your boat comes in, when does it dock?'

'Pretty late at night, we still have to pick up my Primape, I left in training a few years ago, and I thought I'd take it along for a ride, how about you just stay in the Pokémon Centre, we'll come meet up with you that night when the ship gets in.'

'Whatever you say Ash,' she smiled.

'I'll see you then.'

'See you then.'

Ash hung up, and Dawn turned to grin at Piplup, before saying quietly, 'No need to worry Piplup, we'll get him.'

…

'Is that Slateport city?!' Misty cheered, looking over the horizon, where the sun was setting, but the lights of the twinkling city were clear over the horizon.

'Sure is,' Ash laughed.

'Get off the railing you two, you're going to fall off the boat!' Brock called.

The two sighed impatiently but jumped down off the railing of the boat. Ash couldn't help but smile, all the awkwardness between him and Misty had seemed to vanish the moment she go on the boat, something about the ocean just seemed to make Misty change completely, it always seemed to set her free. It might have been because Brock was now with them, but he knew Misty to well to not know it was the ocean.

'So what Pokémon have you got with you right now?' Misty asked smiling at him.

'Just Pikachu, and Primape. Seeing as all of the gyms have their own type specialty I'm not going to fill up my party until I know which gym we're headed to first,' Ash shrugged, 'And of course seeing as we got Primape back yesterday, I'm prepared for anything anyway.'

'I'm surprise Primape took to you so well after you had it for two weeks and then left it for six years,' Misty commented.

'Oh come on-'

'I know, I know,' she laughed, 'Have you called the others to make sure that Charizard and Squirtle can still be called upon if you need them.'

'Yeah, I called them last night,' he grinned, 'Oh by the way, forgot to mention it, Dawn's gonna come to.'

'Dawn?' Misty said sharply.

'Yeah, my friend from Sinnoh, Brock and I have told you about her,' he reminded.

'Yeah I remember,' she muttered quietly.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'Nothing,' she said shortly.

He hesitated before deciding to change the subject, 'So which Pokémon have you decided to bring?'

'Well I've got Golduck, Corsola, Gyarados and Seadra. I figured I should leave some extra slots in my party in case I found some new Pokémon in the islands,' Misty said brightening slightly.

'Good idea, I'm sure there'll be some brilliant Pokémon over there,' he grinned.

'I've been looking up the Pokémon that have started evolving differently in the islands,' Brock said with a grin.

'Really? Like what?'

'Well Dragonair's have been evolving into what their callings Drasphira's,' Brock grinned, 'And there's some new eeveeloutions as well. Not all of the Pokémon there are officially confirmed, and are far from understood, but that'll be the best part of the challenge. I think that the fact so little is known, will be good for me, I could start being a proper breeder, figure out how these Pokémon evolved in the first place. I can't wait to get there.'

'The Eclipse Islands are amazing, I can't wait to see them for myself.'

…

Dawn had fell asleep on the couch in the Pokémon centre by the time Brock, Ash and Misty arrived. And for some reason, Ash was grateful for that, he felt that somehow Misty had decided she didn't like Dawn without even meeting her. Dawn on the other hand seemed thrilled to get to meet Misty.

But when Ash woke up with dark blue hair dangling above his face, he nearly was frightened beyond belief. He jumped in surprise but then bashed his head on the bunk above him. He scared Pikachu so much that he was suddenly electrocuted.

'Pikachu!'

'Go back to sleep Ash, it's too early to wake up,' came a disgruntled voice he knew all to well to be Misty's sleepy drone.

'It's a perfect time to wake up,' came a chirpy voice he realised was Dawn, how she was so much of a morning person he couldn't understand.

'You fell asleep by the time we got here, you got more sleep,' Ash groaned, knowing perfectly well he'd never get back to sleep now that Pikachu had shocked him.

'What I don't even get a hug?' Dawn protested.

Ash rolled his eyes, but still smiled at Dawn and did as she asked; she was definitely the most huggy of all of his traveling companions. Dawn looked older than when he'd last seen her, she'd grown a few inches, and her dark blue-black hair had gotten even longer, her bright blue eye's sparkled with cheer. She was still wearing the little gold pieces in her hair, but she'd pinned pack her fringe and let the bangs loose, not bothering to wear her beanie as usual. She was wearing a white shirt with a button up black vest over the top, with a matching pair of black ankle boots, the buttons on the vest themselves were the same bright pink as the mini-skirt she was wearing. She was beaming at Ash, seeming extremely happy to see him, and Pikachu and Piplup were now doing catching up of their own, babbling constantly to one another.

'How're you Dawn?'

'I'm great, it's going to be so brilliant to travel with you again,' she beamed.

'I'll say the same to you if you promise not to wake me up so early ever again.'

'Its seven thirty Ash, it isn't that early.'

'Oh with Misty around, you'll learn the rule "if you think it's a good time to wake her up, wait another hour if you value your life,"' Ash laughed.

'I'm not a morning person,' Misty muttered into her pillow from above.

'That is the understatement of the century,' Ash muttered, but then threw his pillow at Brock, 'Hey Brock! Time to get up!'

Brock sat up rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his already crazy hair, crazier than usual, he smiled at Dawn when he noticed her, 'Looks like someone's finally up,' he commented to her.

'I could say the same to you,' Dawn giggled, but then hugged Brock tightly, she'd grown up without her father and she'd half assigned the role to Brock since they met, 'So when does our boat leave?'

'Nine,' Brock said as he stretched out.

'What?! You mean I only have an hour and a half to pack up, get ready and eat breakfast?!'

'You need more than fifteen minutes?' Misty asked sitting up on the top bunk.

'Ah…' Ash began, thinking of how to explain Dawn to Misty.

'Relax Ash, my sisters need three minimum, I can deal with it,' Misty sighed, and jumped off the top bunk onto the ground, and then surprisingly polite compared to how'd she'd been acting every time Dawn was mentioned, and the fact it was so early, she held out a hand to shake, 'Misty Waterflower.'

'Dawn. Ash's told me so many stories about you.'

'...What has he told you?' Misty said looking suspiciously at Ash instantly.

'Oh he's only got the highest to say about you,' Dawn assured, but at the same time there was a twinge of annoyance in her voice that was hard to pick up unless you knew her properly.

Misty smiled lightly and said, 'If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get changed, oh and Brock? Can't we just have breakfast on the boat? They're probably have something more gourmet then the Pokémon centre's cereal and toast.'

'True, sounds like a good idea Misty,' Brock grinned at her.

'The food better be good if I'm waiting for breakfast,' Ash sighed.

Dawn and Misty had different responses to Ash's usual response, Dawn just giggled, Misty rolled her eyes and said quite calmly, 'Fat pig.'

And flicking him in the ear she walked out of the room.

**Hey all, I'm Princess Selina, and I'm grateful for all of you reading this story and the reviews I've received, and the story alerts and favourites. I really love this story, and it means a lot to me that you guys have faith in it. I have a slight challenge for you readers. I plan on including a few Fakemon in this story, for example Dasphira, because Dragonite never was like I pictured it would be looking at Dragonair. If you have a Fakemon in mind that you want me to include in this story, whether it's yours or one you found on the internet, I would love to hear about it. So either put in a review or PM it to me.**

**Also to clear up on the ages at the time being:**

**Ash- 16**

**Misty- 16**

**Brock- 18**

**May- 14**

**Max- 10**

**Drew- 15**

**Dawn- 13**

**I would have put the last section in a new chapter, but I wanted to start the next with the arrival in the Eclipse Islands. So I'll see you all next time, as Ash starts the Eclipse League.**

**Please review.**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

It was beautiful. They could see it on the horizon as the sun hit the middle of the sky on their third day on the boat, the islands they could already see from here was bright green, covered in plants, and the sand on the beaches was the purest white they had ever seen. Gorebyss jumped upside the boat, their pink skin shimmering in the amazing golden sunlight that seemed to be forever shining. The ocean was such a clear blue that it didn't even seem to be possible, that made you seem to want to dive straight in without a second thought.

'This is amazing already,' Misty sighed.

'Back in that good mood aren't you?' Ash laughed.

'Huh?'

'You've been annoyed with me ever since you came back traveling, but the moment you get on a boat for about an hour, you seem to go back to the old Misty, and I'm glad for that,' he laughed.

'What makes you think I'm annoyed with you?' she laughed, smiling at him, the wind whipping through her bright red hair.

'Because you slapped me and pushed me into the pool without even saying hi,' he pointed out.

Misty smiled sheepishly at him, 'Okay, probably a little uncalled for, but I hated being cooped up in that stuffy gym knowing that you were going all over the world without me, I was barely even a thought in your mind?'

'Oh come on Misty, you honestly thought I wouldn't think about you just because you weren't there?' he asked sitting up on the railing of the boat so they were vaguely facing each other.

'Well in Hoenn not as much, I mean I met May and Max, and they knew so many stories about our times traveling that I knew you talked about me from time to time, and of course when you mentioned that Max started pulling Brock off by his ear, I knew that there was always going to be a reminder. But admittedly in Sinnoh less so, I never met Dawn till now, and whenever I did talk to you, you seemed to avoid the subject of her, everything I knew about her mainly came off Brock, and I didn't know how reliable that was.'

Ash didn't know why but he felt himself reddening slightly before he said, 'Misty, honestly, I could never forget you, and I hate to say it but I did avoid the Dawn topic with you, and I sort of avoided the you topic with her for a little while.'

'A little while?'

'I had to start explaining a few things when she found the lure.'

'The lure?'

'The mini-Misty lure you gave me at the end of our travels.'

'You kept that?'

'Of course I did, I still have it in my bag, when Dawn picked it up when she went to go fishing I almost pushed her into the river, and would have to if Zoey hadn't turned up.'

'Really?'

'Well there are some things that are between two people that can't be shared. Their are stories I've shared with people that I wouldn't tell you, and their are stories about you and me that I'd never tell anyone else. You get that right?'

'Of course I do. Like why you didn't want to give me a heads-up how easy Dawn get's sea sick,' Misty commented.

'She's still vomiting? After three days?'

'Yeah, not as much admittedly, but she still can't keep food down properly, but whether that's just her being sea-sick or the reason behind her tiny waist I'm not sure.'

'Misty!'

'I'm kidding Ash, you know I am.'

'Maybe I should go check on her,' he sighed.

Misty's grin seemed to fade slightly before it came back quickly, but it looked forced, 'Sure thing Ash, tell her we'll be on land in an hour or so.'

'Sure will Misty,' he grinned.

Ash went below deck to go talk to Dawn leaving Misty staring back over the horizon, thinking silently about why she felt suddenly so possessive of Ash when it came to Dawn, she didn't quite understand it. But she instead she smiled softly, looking down at the ocean beneath her, how this could make anyone sick she just didn't understand.

...

'Land!' Dawn sighed in relief as she ran ahead of them to get down the ramp onto the the dock, 'Oh thank god I thought that ever would be over.'

Dawn was practically kissing the ground, 'Amateur,' Misty said a little louder than she'd originally planned.

Dawn glared up at her and got to her feet, but then almost fell over instantly, grabbing Ash for support, 'Careful, it takes some time to adjust to the boat not moving,' he laughed.

'I still don't know how you can't handle a boat ride,' Misty said snidely.

Dawn opened her mouth to say something when sudden a loud voice cut her off, 'Ash! Brock!'

May ran forward up the dock and latched her arms around Brock and Ash, the boys laughed, trying to stay grounded as May nearly knocked them off, 'How are you?!' she laughed beaming at them as she let go.

'Good, you're in a good mood.'

'To see you guys when I've been stuck with just Drew and Max for the last two weeks? It's a welcome relief,' May grinned but then turned to Misty and beamed at her, and gave her a hug to, 'Misty, it's been too long, it's so good to see you.'

'You too May,' Misty grinned.

May then turned to Dawn and unlike with everyone else, she just smiled at her, not going to hug at her, 'Hey Dawn, how're you?'

'Much better now that I'm back on land.'

'You get sea sick?' May asked like it was ridiculous.

'Yes,' Dawn said irritably.

'Poor thing,' May said as sympathetically as she could manage.

'Where's Max and Drew?' Ash asked.

'Pokémon Centre, well Drew is anyway, talking to some receptionist, apparently she _fascinates _him, which is code for she's pretty and he's shameless. Max is outside playing with Ralts, he's trying to help it strengthen it's confusion attack,' May explained with a sigh, 'Come on, let's go, you can sign up for the league in there Ash.'

'Sounds like a plan, come on Pikachu,' he laughed and began running down the pier, Pikachu at his heels.

'What's his hurry?' Dawn muttered.

'It's Ash,' came the chorus of the remaining group.

...

'Welcome to our Pokémon Centre,' Nurse Joy said cheerfully as Ash entered and approached the desk, 'How may I help you?'

'Can you check over my Pokémon Nurse Joy?' he asked, as Pikachu jumped up on the table, and he placed Primape's Pokéball on the table next to it.

'Of course,' she grinned, 'That's what I'm here for.'

'Also, where do we sign up for the Eclipse League?' Ash asked.

'A challenger huh? The desk over there, Sacha can sign you up,' she said sweetly.

'Thanks Nurse Joy, I'll see you soon Pikachu.'

'Pika Pika.'

He walked towards the desk, and much to his surprise he found a dark haired girl in some sort of uniform, engaged in a rather passionate kiss with Drew, who looked more stunned then anything else, he may have not started it, but he wasn't stopping her and was kissing her back at the same time Ash couldn't help but comment loudly, 'Better not let May see you doing that.'

The girl pulled away slightly and glared at Ash, 'Excuse me, I'm in the middle of something here.'

And before Ash or Drew could say anything, she pretty much pinned Drew to the chair he was sitting on, and kissed him even more forcefully. Drew seemed to get a little uncomfortable now, but at the same time, once again he didn't do anything to stop her. Ash knew that he really shouldn't be here watching and shouldn't interrupt, but at the same time, he felt obligated to, for May's sake, and the fact he wanted to start the Eclipse League the first moment possible.

'Um, I want to sign up for the Pokémon League?'

The girl pulled away for a second and said rather shrewdly, 'Can't you see I'm busy?'

Then she pretty much jumped on top of Drew, and started kissing him again, 'Sacha!' barked a sharp voice.

The girl pulled back looking alarmed, 'Ah...'

And then suddenly she was dragged off Drew's lap by her hair. And a tall girl in a matching white uniform with a rainbow lining and badge, with long blonde ringlets cascading down her back, and sharp brown eyes that seemed oddly familiar, looked like she could positively explode. Ash couldn't place where he'd seen her before, but he knew it was somewhere. But he learnt in a few seconds that this girl, had an impressive temper.

'Sacha, what have I told you!?'

'Ah...'

'You get paid quite a lot of money to do a rather simple task! And you abuse that by doing whatever the hell you want with it! You don't deserve to serve the Carinthia Family! The number one thing we do here is be polite to potential challengers! And now, how about you enjoy explaining to Asterion why I've asked him to fire you?!'

'But-'

'Go!'

Sacha scurried out the door and a rather large sigh came off the girl, 'Oh for god's sake, how did she even get this job?' but then seeming to remember she wasn't alone, she smiled warmly at Ash and said, 'Sorry about that. How can I help you?'

'Yeah I was hoping to sign up for the Eclipse League,' Ash said carefully, not wanting to set off her temper.

'Sure thing hun,' she said cheerfully, 'I'll just have to get your trainer number and a proof of ID and then I can sign you up.'

'Oh right,' he said and handed over his Pokédex.

She hit a few buttons and began entering things into the computer, while Drew awkwardly stood up and walked to sit on the couches nearer to the entrance, 'Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town? You must have travelled very far to get here, it's a very long way here from Kanto.'

'Yeah I have, it's two and a half day boat road just from Slateport City,' he laughed.

She smiled again, and handed him back the Pokédex, 'There we go, all registered, do you want to know anything about the league?'

'Yeah, that would be good, I couldn't really find out anything when I tried looking up the league.'

'It's only been running for a few years now, it's understandable, besides, the Carinthia's are rather secretive about these things.'

'The Carinthia's?' he asked.

'Wait you don't know?' she asked sharply.

'Know what?'

'The league is run by the Carinthia family. The seventeen gym leaders are brothers and sisters. How did you not know about that?'

'Ah...'

'I'm Nixie, by the way,' she said and then said, 'How did you find out about the league anyway without finding out about the leaders?'

'Well, a friend of mine used to date the Poison gym leader, I know he said she was from a big family, but still-'

'Ivy? Wait a second, you're friends with Gary Oak?'

'Well we grew up in the same town, we were rivals for a few years, but honestly, seventeen of them? And they're all supposedly stronger then most gym leaders?'

'They're all stronger then gym leaders, they're all easily capable of placing in a league competition, and the strongest among them are all contenders for the elite four. It's sort of in their blood you could say,' Nixie giggled.

'Wait a second,' Ash said suddenly recognizing the giggle, 'Your that girl from the diner.'

'Huh?'

'In Celadon City last week, you came up to us and started talking about the breeding program here.'

'I did?'

'Yeah, you convinced my friend Brock to give being a breeder another shot- Wait was it you?'

'That depends, how much caffeine did this girl look like she'd had?' Nixie asked a small smile on her face.

'A heck of a lot.'

'No wonder I don't remember, when I have enough caffeine in my system I do so much I can't even remember half the people I talked to, no wonder my brother's ashamed of me,' she sighed.

Ash laughed, and then said, 'So where abouts are all the gyms?'

'There's only one gym on this island, which you are required to battle first, it's run by Tien, the normal type expert.'

'Then it's a good thing that I picked up my Primape,' he said, 'What about that Grass type gym you mentioned in the diner? Brock would love to meet the breeder who leads it.'

'Silly boy, you can't battle Vi yet,' Nixie laughed.

'What do you mean?' Ash asked.

'She's top five,' Nixie said like it was obvious, but seeing like it meant absolutely nothing to Ash she rolled her eyes and said, 'Look, the Eclipse League is different from any other league you may have faced. To battle any of the other gyms, you first have to beat Tien, the next eleven can be battled in any order, but the top five trainers have to be battled last. The grass, water, ground, psychic and fire gyms make up the top five, all of which are battled after you earn the other twelve symbols.'

'...That's a little... obscure.'

'I know, but eh, it works, it's fairer. It's a waste of most trainer's that come here's time to actually challenge our gyms because our leader's are so strong. If they don't make it passed Tien, who's one of the less powerful battlers, by Carinthia standards at least, then there's really no point in them continuing, so challengers are required to verse her first. The top five are far to powerful for all but extremely remarkable trainers. So they're kind of like the elite four, with the Champion being Asterion.'

'Asterion?'

'The eldest and the psychic gym leader, although arguable his sister Pyra is just as powerful, the only ones who've made it passed her have beaten Asterion as well,' Nixie laughed.

'Wow, they must be amazing trainers.'

'Still sure you want to challenge the league?' she offered.

'Definitely-'

'Ah!'

Nixie turned around but was instantly overwhelmed by Brock who'd just spotted her, already down on one knee grabbing at her hand, 'You're beauty is beyond anything I've ever seen. You're grace is finer than an Altaria in flight! You're smile is warmer than a Moltres's flames! You are the vision of beauty so strong that nothing can wipe it away-'

Ash was looking towards Misty and Max mouthing, "help her!" when out of the blue, one thing that had never happened before occurred, a girl rather standing there, confused, insulted or freaked out, slapped Brock straight across his face.

'You sexist, shallow son of a bitch!' she yelled, 'It's insulting enough that it's quite clear that you only take notice of my looks! It's even worse that you think throwing yourself at me, and using the worst pick up lines in the century of attempted compliments, that you haven't realised any girl with any self-respect would actually go for you! But the worst thing of all is that you don't take even a split second to consider that I have a personality, that I'm more than my looks, the possibility that I might already be in a relationship, or the fact that unlike any girl who this has worked on, standards!'

Brock was on the ground, a bright red slap mark blooming on his face and it was quite clear already that it was going to bruise, '...Best reaction ever,' came Drew's voice who was standing beside May looking extremely thrilled.

'Like your any better, you were making out with Sacha five minutes ago, your lucky I don't kick you out of here for being a downright bastard,' Nixie said so certainly they knew she would with very little hesitation, 'Ash, I'll get the package with your badge case, map and rule booklet. I say you prepare yourself to take on Tien, and here's a warning for you, don't take any of your opponents here lightly, or rely on type advantages, the trainers here are far too experienced to not be prepared for things like that. If you have any questions, I'll be at the beach café taking a well deserved lunch break.'

And with that Nixie walked straight at the door, leaving an only half conscious Brock on the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

'So that was interesting,' Dawn offered.

'Yeah... interesting...' May commented who was glaring at Drew, 'You did, didn't you?'

'It's a vague possibility,' Drew muttered.

'...So Ash, what did you find out about the league?' Misty asked trying to change the subject, while nudging Brock with her toe, 'Come on, get up, she didn't hit you that hard?'

'That hard?! I can't feel the left side of my face.'

'Oh for god's sake, get up,' Misty said forcefully.

Brock half raised his head to reveal the humongous mark on his face, you could see the perfect shape of her hand on his face in a bright red mark, that looked ridiculously painful. Before Brock just flopped back down onto the ground. Although they knew that what hurt most of all was probably Brock's pride, or more likely his ego.

'Apparently only one of the gyms are actually on this island,' Ash said grinning at Misty, 'And you know what that means?'

'We're going island hopping!' Misty said a beam spreading across her face.

'Why does this excite you two?' Dawn spat out.

Both Misty and Ash didn't even seem to hear her, 'To bad we don't have Lapras!'

'I know, but either way this is going to be so much fun!'

'You two! Share the inside joke,' Drew interrupted.

'Misty and I once spent six months in the Orange islands competing in the league over there, we went from island to island on my Lapras, it was possibly one of the most brilliant adventures I've ever had.'

'Just the two of you?' Dawn asked suspiciously.

'No, Tracey was there,' Ash shrugged.

'Why does that matter?' Misty said a dangerous tone.

'Will you two just calm down? So Ash, one of the gyms is here on this island right?' Drew asked.

'Yeah, the normal type trainer, Tien, that's what she called her.'

'Tien?!' came May and Drew's sharp exclamation.

'...Yeah...'

'Sweet little Tien is a gym leader?' May spat out.

'No, she's just to nice, she's honestly not a-' Drew continued.

But Ash interrupted them, 'You know her?'

'Well we've been here for a few days, and yeah we've seen her a few times, she's the sweetest person,' May said.

'What do you know about her?' Ash asked.

'Not to much really,' Drew shrugged, 'She's probably younger than May and I, I put her at about thirteen. She's always down at that beach café and- I wondered why that little brooch she was wearing was familiar, it's one of the Eclipse league badges.'

'So she's definitely one of the Carinthia's then,' Ash noted.

'Carinthia's?' the whole group asked.

'The family who runs the league, apparently the seventeen siblings are the ones who established the whole Eclipse Tournament. Apparently I have to beat Tien first, before I can go onto the next eleven and then I get to take on the final five.'

'If you get that far,' Misty said, 'Remember Ash, these people aren't just regular trainers, or regular gym leaders for that matter. There's a reason why only three people, including a current Champion, have gotten through this league. The leaders here aren't going to be push overs, you're going to need to put your all into these battles and don't get over-confident in your own abilities, that was always your down fall.'

Ash reddened and muttered something along the lines of, 'I can't believe I actually missed you.'

He didn't so much intend for Misty to hear him, but she did, and pulling her favored mallet out of no where, there was a loud thwack and he was down on the ground, stars in his eyes within three seconds, 'Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go catch up with that girl, she seems much more like my kind of person right now.'

And leaving two boys semi-conscious on the ground, and a very confused bunch of teens standing around staring at each other, in alarm. Misty walked out of the Pokémon centre.

...

Misty stood at the counter of a beach café waiting for someone to take her order while she continued to mutter under her breath, 'Stupid Ash... Freakin' moron... Why did I even bother coming here?'

'You alright hun?' came a voice.

Misty turned around to see a blonde girl looking up at her with a gentle smile, 'Not really, boys are idiots.'

'Join the club, come on, sit down. Jack! Bring this girl something smothered in chocolate!' the blonde yelled, 'What's your name hun?'

'Misty,' she said quietly sitting down.

'I'm Nixie, I saw you at the Pokémon Centre,' the blonde said with a small smile, 'What happened Misty?'

'It's nothing really-'

'Go on, talk it out,' Nixie instructed, handing her a mug of cocoa from the waitor, 'It'll make you feel better.'

'...I don't know, sometimes I don't know if he even gives a damn about me at all, I thought that when we were just kids that it was because he was far too immature, but now... I don't even know... He pulled me all the way here, and now part of me just wants to go home.'

'Is this the Ash kid?' Nixie asked.

'Yeah,' Misty said quietly.

'I say you give him another chance, it's not for him it's for you, you can have a whirlwind of experiences here, there are things you can learn here that you can't learn anywhere else,' Nixie reminded.

'Are you sure?'

'I'm sure, hey, maybe he'll surprise you, in my experience guys don't sort themselves out till they hit around twenty,' Nixie advised, 'Besides, the Carinthia boys have a reputation of being good looking.'

Misty grinned at that, 'Really?'

'I can't really comment on it, honestly, I'm know them a little to well to comment on it, but there's a distinct reason why every girl in a five thousand mile radius is falling at their feet.'

'Really? They're that good looking? How old are they?'

'Something like that, and once again, can't comment. Look the Carinthia kids, the eldest is nineteen, and the two youngest are thirteen. Honestly, it's ridiculous that there's seventeen of them in a six year gap but then again their parents were crazy.'

'How on Earth are their seventeen kids, six years apart, are their two mothers?'

'No just the one, only one kid is from singular birth though, the others are twins, triplets and even a set of quadruplets.'

'That is just crazy-'

'You think that's crazy? There's a set of fraternal triplets, and I mean all three of them are fraternal from each other. And as for the quadruplets, it's two sets of identical twins, they're fraternal to two of their sisters and identical to one.'

'That's insane!' Misty said bursting out laughing, not even seeming to realise how distracted she was getting.

'Of course it is, all of the kids are far from normal, but something in their blood makes them strive to be ridiculously capable battlers, but at the same time, part of me feels like it's this place. It's the islands that did it.'

'What do you mean?' Misty asked intrigued.

'Well the Carinthia's are the first known inhabitants of the Eclipse Islands, they were raised here, mostly by nature, they never really had parents past the time the eldest was around ten. The elder sisters practically raised the group. But at the same time, they rarely actually went to the main land, they stayed here, the islands brought them food, shelter, rain and sunshine, the cotton crops they grew here thrived and they made enough clothes that they didn't have to return to the mainland. The island cared for them at ever turn, and somehow on the eve of every Carinthia's tenth birthday, a Pokémon would appear before them, and that Pokémon became their partner.'

'...That's... beautiful. It seems like the island... raised them.'

'It pretty much did, that's why all of them are still here, some of them have been asked to become Elite Four members, or breeding or contest greats, but still they stay here, because these islands, mean everything to them.'

'Wow...'

'See how quickly these islands can enchant your soul?' Nixie asked.

'Yeah- Wait how did you do that? I was angry at Ash before-'

'The islands work in mysterious ways, and those who speak their language are truly at one with the world,' Nixie smiled.

'Hey Misty!'

Both of the girls looked up to see Ash striding towards them, 'Yeah?' Misty asked testily.

'Look, I should have said what I said before, it wasn't right.'

'How long did May have to spend explaining to you what you did was wrong before you agreed to come apologise?' Misty asked a small smirk forming on her delicate features.

'Not that long, it was just hard to find this café,' Ash said.

'I told you these Islands work wonders,' Nixie laughed.

'Yeah, you're right. Nyx, would you mind showing us to the first gym when Ash goes to challenge it? I think someone who speaks the language of the Eclipse Islands would be useful to have along.'

'As long as that moron friend of yours agrees not to go within a three meter radius of me and he doesn't talk to me or stare at me, then I'd love to,' Nixie grinned, 'Oh and Ash, just a heads up about Tien, something you need to be wary of.'

'What?' Ash asked excited that he was getting inside info.

'She's a cat person.'

'That's something to be wary of? She likes cats?'

'Of course it is. You never know what crazy cat ladies are capable of.'


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

'Up there, that is the gym.'

A collective gasp rose up from the group as they stared up at the building; it wasn't like any Pokémon gym any of them had seen before. It was a large white stone building, with constant windows along the sides, a long path of white stones lead up to the tall archway that lead inside. The ceiling was high and arched, and it seemed there was a large portion of the ceiling that had been turned into a skylight. Just above the door, there was a large symbol that marked it as the gym. It was a bright silver circle, with a bright white, six pointed star in the middle. The sun glinting off the star symbol sending rainbows across the grass that surrounded it, the turquoise ocean rising up behind the building and the magnificent oak trees that slowly wilted bright green leaves in the lazy sea air.

'Now this is a coordinator's kind of gym,' Drew commented.

'That's your excuse for being slightly metrosexual isn't it?' Nixie offered.

There was a snort of laughter from the group, Nixie in the half hour it had taken to get them here, had seemed to have an endless supply of sarcastic comments at the ready to come flying out of her mouth at a split second warning. But she seemed to bring back some of the over top happiness she'd had at the café where Brock, Misty and Ash first met her, and occasionally, she'd just start rolling down one of the hills laughing her head off. She seemed to take to Max well, constantly babbling on about different battling tips and breeding tips and just about everything, a self-proclaimed expert on whatever she wanted to talk about at that moment. But despite Nixie's effortless conversation with the group, at the same time, Brock still wasn't allowed to talk to, or look at her, you could see it physically pained him not to be spurting compliments and strange attempted pickup lines every time he got a vague glimpse at her.

'So this is an Eclipse Island gym huh?' Ash grinned.

'Tien will have been up for hours, by now she'll be bored, I can't understand why though, she gets so many more challengers than the rest of her siblings.'

'How many more?'

'The top five haven't had a challenger in six months,' Nixie commented.

'Six months?!'

'Most of them get stuck when they try to take on Lectron or Malina.'

'Lectron? Malina?'

'The electric gym leader, and the dragon leader, they're nearly as good as the top five, ridiculously gifted. Lectron keeps trying to knock Demetrius, the ground trainer out of his position in the top five, but seeing as it's such a severe type disadvantage and Demetrius knows what he's doing, they keep getting down to Lectron having one Pokémon and Demetrius having two and then Demetrius will win. Sibling rivalry has never been so extreme.'

'I can imagine,' Brock said, the words coming out of his mouth and then slamming his hands over it, flinching like he was about to be hit.

Nixie just flat out ignored him, and began walking towards the gym, 'Come on Ash, Tien won't bite… much.'

…

'Hey! Tien! I have a challenge for you!' Nixie called loudly as they walked down a corridor.

'Really?' came a sweet, high voice, 'I'm on the battle field, bring them through!'

Nixie laughed, and continued walking to the end of the corridor before she swung the door open, revealing the large room beyond. An immense field, seeming slightly bigger than the usual fields was open before them, a shiny, chrome floor stretched out, marked with white battle lines. The walls were mostly made of glass panels, turned at slight angles to let the sea air flow in and the roof was a glass arch, lined with strips of silver metal to keep it intact. At either end of the battlefield there was a white stone platform, clearly for the trainers use, but on the far end, facing them, was someone who looked way too young to be a gym leader.

She had bright brown hair that went to around the middle of her back; it was a mess of waves and curls, it blew gently in the breeze that came from all angles in the room. Her eyes were large and blue, glowing like the ocean on a summer's day, wide and innocent, with a glint of good humor. She was dressed in a three quarter sleeve, white and blue striped top, a small brown skirt tied with a pink bandana to hold it up was swishing a little over half way to her knees. Her hair was held back by a string of white and blue material, and pinned to her shirt was a silver badge with a six pointed star, just like the symbol outside her gym. Her feet were bare as she swung them back and forth from where she was sitting on the balcony of the battle platform.

'Hello there, I'm Tien Carinthia, the Normal Type specialist and the leader of this gym, your first challenge in the Eclipse League. If you can defeat me you shall be allowed to progress to the next stage of the league, competing against my other siblings and maybe you will even face my brother Asterion, and assert yourself as the forth trainer to ever to master our league.'

'Do you use that rehearsed drabble on everyone Tien?' Nixie observed loudly.

Tien for the first time seemed to notice Nixie, and a grin lit up her face, 'Long time no see; usually you just let the junior staff lead the challengers to my gym.'

'Well, this one actually seems to have potential, remember the kid at the Indigo League a few years back that nearly got slaughtered by a machine and had to get his ass saved by the Moltres?' Nixie laughed.

Brock and Misty burst out laughing, instantly remembering what was possibly one of Ash's dumbest decisions, one of the many that almost got him killed, but somehow it was still funny. May and Max were exchanging confused looks. Dawn was looking at Ash with a very clear confused and annoyed look. Drew simply sighed, expecting he was missing out on some sort of inside joke.

'Wait a second, you know about that?!' Ash exploded.

'Of course I do,' Nixie laughed.

'It was Pyra's Moltres,' Tien pointed out.

'Your sister has a Moltres?'

'Sister of fire, of course she does,' Tien giggled, 'Are you my challenger? Because there are an awful lot of you here.'

'Yeah, I am, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town.'

'Oh you're the kid who bombed out in the-'Tien suddenly cut off, like she didn't want to say something, and she noticed the look on Ash's face, 'I think I've heard of you, I'm not sure where from.'

'So what type of battle are we having?' Ash asked.

'Haven't you told them anything?' Tien asked looking at Nixie.

'All battles in the Eclipse League are six on six battles Ash, that's also part of what makes it so hard, not all trainers have six elite Pokémon, and even then, they don't have any more that they can switch in between in order to not fall into a pattern,' Nixie explained, 'Tien can I have a word with you for a sec?'

Tien nodded and Nixie ran over, muttering quietly to her for a few moments, and after a second Tien nodded, rolling her eyes, 'whatever you say _Nixie_.'

'I'll ref, if you're ready to start Ash,' Nixie called.

'Definitely! I'm ready to earn my first Eclipse League symbol,' Ash shouted confidently.

'No chance,' Tien smirked, pulling herself back onto the stand properly, 'Don't think for a second this is going to be easy.'

'Tell him that all you want, it's not going to work,' Misty sighed, 'He's got a permanent big head; we're still working on deflating it.'

'You know it's a big problem when the girlfriend sees it,' Tien giggled.

'Hun,' Nixie said sharply as Misty and Ash both glanced at each other and took a big step away.

'Oh… My bad,' Tien said awkwardly, and then noticing the large group of people still standing, she grinned and called loudly, 'Braviary!'

An incredibly large eagle like bird flew into the room through one of the windows, spinning the glass panel as it did and landed at Tien's feet, 'Brav!' it squawked.

'Braviary, be a dear and bring in some chairs for our challenger's friends, actually, just bring the big sofa,' she said, gently petting its feathery head, and then she hit a button, which opened a hatch in the roof.

'Don't you think it's a little, I don't know, difficult for a flying Pokémon to bring in a couch?' Dawn asked.

'Darlin' Braviary's can lift a car while flying when they've first evolved, Tien's Braviary can probably lift half the building without breaking a sweat,' Nixie said boredly.

Suddenly there was a loud thump, and in the middle of the field landed a large sofa, with a lounge on the side, 'Thanks Braviary!' Tien called, 'Stand by.'

There was a loud squawk and Drew and Brock looked at each other, shrugged, and then began dragging the couch to the side of the field, before dumping themselves down on it. May, Dawn and Max ran over to join them, but Misty touched Ash's shoulder lightly.

'You can do it Ash,' she smiled before walking to join the others.

'That Braviary is brilliant,' Ash complimented.

'If you think it's brilliant now, I might as well start with it,' Tien offered, 'Braviary! Time to shine!'

Braviary landed on the field, it's claws making slight clings on the metallic floor as it raked them along the ground, clearly all to ready to start the battle, 'What do you think Pikachu? Think you can take it?'

'Pika-pika!' the electric rodent cheered and jumped onto the field, although being only up to the top Braviary's claws, Pikachu seemed ready to go.

'This battle between the gym leader Tien, and the challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town shall now begin, this will be a six on six battle, either trainer may substitute their Pokémon, no time limits, trainers ready?' Nixie called.

'Ready,' Ash said.

'R- What is it Braviary?' Tien asked frowning.

The eagle Pokémon seemed to freeze, it's sharp eyes seeming to be searching for something, and then suddenly there was an explosion of smoke. The room seemed to shake like there was an explosion, because they could hear the windows vibrating.

But in the minute or so it took for the smoke to finally cleared, they finally saw that in the smoke, the battle field was empty, and Braviary and Pikachu were gone. A terrible shrieking cry seemed to tear it's way straight out of Tien's mouth, her eyes overflowing with tears as she yelled out again and again;

'Braviary! Braviary! Braviary!' she screeched.

'What happened?!' Nixie yelled, looking at the gathered group, all still choking on the smoke, like it was there fault.

Ash didn't even seem to care, 'Pikachu!' he yelled.

Brock seemed to have completely forgotten that he wasn't allowed to talk to Nixie he said instead, 'What always happens, Ash, I thought you said that Team Rocket had stopped following you!'

'They had!' Ash cried, looking around wildly.

'Well clearly not, no one else would go straight after Pikachu, Braviary must have just been because they thought it must be powerful as well.'

'Since when do Team Rocket do anything without reciting their stupid motto? Are we positive it's them?' May asked.

'Who else could it be?' Dawn asked, 'Come on, they can't have gotten to far, and there's always something, always something that'll get the Pokémon back when Team Rocket tries to ruin everything.'

'What on Earth are you going on about?!' Tien demanded, 'Where's my Braviary!?'

'Ever since I started my journey over six years ago, I've been followed by this trio from Team Rocket.'

'Team Rocket?' both Tien and Nixie asked cluelessly.

'They've spent a lot of time on this island Ash, they probably wouldn't know about them. It's a villainous league who basically want to steal the world's most powerful Pokémon for their own profit, and from day one, they've been after Ash's Pikachu and any other powerful Pokémon they run into along the way,' Brock explained, 'But we can get them back, I know we can, now come on, we've got to go find them.'

Tien barged straight past Brock, Ash on her heels, still yelling sounding completely deranged, 'Braviary! Braviary! Braviary!'

...

'I can't believe that was so easy!' James said sounding thrilled.

'Meowth thinks it's because you two weren't yammering on as always before we actually get anything done,' Meowth said.

'Well... we're not on the team anymore so I guess the motto isn't necessary... I miss it!' Jessie yelled dramatically.

'Jess, calm down, remember, if we bring powerful Pokémon to the boss, he'll take us back, and now that we've got Pikachu in this handy dandy electricity proof box and this huge bird in a cage, we're sure to be back in his good books.'

'I know James, we have to be back in Team Rocket I barely know who I am without it... apart from exceptionally beautiful of course,' Jessie said with a toss of her long pink hair.

'Now all we have to do is get off this island before any of the twerps catch up to us or the girl who gave us this big b'oid.'

'Did it seem to either of you two that the Twerp wasn't alone, or with those two from Unova? It seemed like their were a lot of them,' James remarked.

'I wasn't looking, I was to busy grabbing this pathetic bird while you got the easier task of picking up Pikachu you lazy sod!' Jessie snapped.

'Well it wasn't part of our plan to grab anything else-'

'But we take whatever we can get that's good! That's the Team Rocket way!' Jessie declared.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Team Rocket stood on the shore of the island, packing all of their stuff back into the boat that would take them far away from here. They'd deflated the balloon and disassembled the basket, shoving it into the back of the boat. Pikachu and Braviary had already been shoved into a large crate on the back of the boat, reinforced with chains and metal bolts to make sure there was no chance that they'd escape. This was one of their best executed plans that they'd had, they hadn't slowed down to argue, they hadn't taken anything that would be able to leave a trail and they'd flown high in the cloud so their balloon couldn't be spotted, and they were already leaving before the twerps could catch up. They were finally going to get away with something.

Or so they thought.

'Oi!'

Team Rocket whipped around to see a large group standing before them, 'the Twerps!'

'And one worse, you've angered a Carinthia,' Tien said striding forward.

'How did you find us?' Jessie demanded.

'It wasn't that hard, the islands work in mysterious ways, and those who speak their language will always find what their looking for,' Nixie said rolling her eyes.

'Does that make any sense to you?' James asked.

'Makes no sense to Meowth,' Meowth shrugged.

'In any event. Prepare for trouble!' Jessie shouted.

'And make it double!'

'To protect the world from devastation!'

'To unite all people in our nation.'

'To denounce the evils of truth and love.'

'To stretch our reach to the stars above.'

'Jessie.'

'James.'

'Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!'

'Surrender now or prepare to fight!'

'Meowth that's right!'

'They have a new motto?' Dawn asked.

'More like an old one, that was the one they were using until we headed to the Battle Frontier,' Max explained quickly.

'It sounds kind of tacky to me,' Drew shrugged.

'Don't besmirch the name of the great Team Rocket!' Jessie yelled.

'They do great things with or without being fired or not-'

'James be quiet!'

Jessie and James were already going for their Pokéballs when Tien laughed and stepped forward, and oddly intimidating look coming across her face, 'You have a Meowth huh? I used to have one two. Without tutoring the only moves they'll ever learn are scratch, fury swipes and pay day, none of which are particularly useful moves.'

Team Rocket were knocked slightly off guard by Tien's calm, clear assessment of Meowth. Before she laughed and then with a little flick of her wrist she chucked a Pokéball to the ground and bursting out of it was a Persian, who growled, the ruby spot in its forehead gleaming.

'Ah! A Persian!' Meowth yelled.

'Told you she was a cat person,' Nixie laughed at the stunned look on Ash's face.

'You see Persian's have privy to a much more advanced move set, but I still choose to tutor my Pokémon extremely advanced moves that they wouldn't be able to learn on their own. Which is why my Persian knows Hyper Beam.'

Team Rocket looked alarmed, exchanging glances, 'Let's get out of here-'Jessie began, but she was quickly stopped.

'You made a big mistake when you kidnapped my Braviary, and for that, you have to be punished. I may be one of the weakest battlers among my family, but I outrank gym leaders which I'm guessing you aren't capable of facing, so you use lies and deceit to get your own way. When in reality, if you put half the effort into being evil, into going after your dreams in a more orthodox way, you'd be on top by now. But you aren't, and you'll never be until you face reality,' Tien spoke, her eyes glowing with a quiet, white rage, 'And until then, you stay away from the Eclipse Islands. It is a place of beauty and peace and love, and I won't let you destroy it. Stay away, if you know what's good for you. Persian, Hyper Beam.'

There was a sudden explosion of bright orange light that erupted from Persian's mouth, which split through the air and slammed straight into Jessie, James and Meowth. And suddenly they were forced, spread eagle into the air, screaming loudly as they shot by an invisible cannon into the sky.

'Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!'

'I have a strange feeling they're not going to come back for a long time,' Misty grinned.

'Who knows, maybe Tien's actually scared them so much that they won't come back,' May laughed.

'Who knows? Or at least for a while, I mean really, the Island lead us here... if that makes sense,' Max replied.

'...How did you teach a Persian Hyper Beam?' Brock asked.

'Hey Tien! Ash!' Nixie yelled who had somehow moved from right beside them to the boat twenty meters away, standing in it as she looked at the crate where Pikachu and Braviary had been stashed, 'I think I've found your missing friends.'

'Oh thank goodness!' Tien gasped and ran towards the boat.

'Pikachu!' Ash called and ran forward.

Nixie tore off the lid of the crate and then there was a collective sigh of relief from Ash and Tien as they saw their Pokémon. Tien pretty much dived to pull her Braviary out of the crate, and then further more out of the bird cage. Ash unlatched the box that Pikachu had been shoved in, and almost instantly the little yellow Pokémon jumped straight into his arms.

'Oh thank god you're okay,' Tien whispered hugging the giant bird, tears in her eyes.

'Viary!'

'You alright buddy?' Ash asked.

'Chuu.'

'Well at least everything's okay now,' Nixie smiled, 'Are you two still on for that battle?'

Tien and Ash both grinned, their heads rising as they turned to look at each other, 'Bring it on.'

…

'Still sure you want to verse me Ash?!' Tien cat-called from the other side of the field, 'You've seen how powerful my Pokémon are, maybe you need a little more training before you're capable of beating me.'

'How am I supposed to get stronger without battling stronger trainers?' Ash asked, 'I'm here to win Tien, don't forget it.'

'Okay, if you two are done with the trash slash weirdly complimentary talk, then are you two ready to begin the battle?' Nixie laughed, who was standing on the referee's podium looking amused.

'Definitely,' Tien laughed.

'Sure am,' Ash replied.

'Then let the battle begin.'


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

'Glameow, let's get this thing moving!'

'Heracross, I choose you!'

'A good pick on Ash's part,' Brock muttered to Max. 'Yeah, Heracross has characteristics of both bug and fighting types, Ash has the advantage.'

'What is he even up against?' Misty whispered.

Misty looked at the small gray cat Pokémon, with its little white socks on its paws and the spring like tail. It's ears seemed vaguely like someone had glued a boomerang to its head. She didn't recognise it in the slightest, but she knew very little of non-water types who weren't Kanto or Johto Pokémon.

Dawn looked up and realised that Misty had very little knowledge on Sinnoh Pokémon before saying, 'It's a normal-type Sinnoh Native,' she explained, 'One of my rivals has one, there very powerful, but I'm surprised that if she's a battler that she hasn't made it evolve yet into a Purugly. Usually keeping it as Glameow would be for contest reasons.'

'Thanks,' Misty whispered back.

Dawn gave her a weak smile and turned back to the match, where it was clear that Ash was deep in thought about what to do before he gave a sharp command of, 'Heracross, Horn Attack!'

Heracross flew forward; his horn glowing bright white as he neared Glameow, but Tien didn't even seemed phased, 'Dodge it.'

Glameow didn't even seem to hesitate, next thing they knew Glameow was standing on the other side of the field, a rather evil smirk lighting its face, 'Meow,' it said smugly.

Ash seemed stunned, 'Wow… it's really fast… Heracross Horn Attack again.'

'Glameow, dodge again,' Tien said calmly.

Glameow barely even seemed to be there, before it suddenly disappeared again, 'How does it keep dodging like that?' Ash muttered to himself, 'It's barely taking a second to move.'

'Interesting thing about Glameow, you see, I've raised all of my Pokémon straight from eggs, which gives me a chance to focus on their special abilities. Glameow's are rather weak in defense, but they are extremely fast, so I've raised my Glameow to be as fast as possible. They tend to lose that ability when they evolve, so it's more useful for my tactic with her to keep Glameow in this state. Besides, she's happy this way. You don't honestly think a simple Horn attack is going to work?'

'Heracross Megahorn!'

'I told you Ash, it's not going to work,' Tien laughed.

'Focus Punch! Now!'

'Dodge it,' Tien called again.

Even as Heracross charged over, fist glowing brightly, Glameow flew sideways, landing right behind Heracross, 'Look out!' he yelled.

'Glameow, Shadow Ball!' Tien called.

A ball of swirling black and purple energy, slammed through the air, crashing into Heracross's back sending it flying forward, crashing head first into the ground, 'Heracross!' he yelled in surprise, and then he realised something, he knew what Tien had been doing, 'You were just waiting to find out what moves Heracross knew!'

'Ooh good boy, finally catching on,' Tien laughed, 'I may be sweet most of the time, but when it comes to battles I'm a true Carinthia.'

'In other words manipulative, deadly and prone to playing mind games,' Nixie explained.

'Heracross, return!' Ash called.

He knew he couldn't keep Heracross out there, not when Tien knew as much, sure he still had Hyper Beam, but he had an odd feeling Tien had already figured that one out. As Heracross returned to the Pokéball, he thought hard about what he could do, he couldn't send Primape in yet, it was the only proper type advantage he had, and she'd probably already seen enough of Pikachu to figure out a few things and he wanted to save Pikachu for Braviary. So he thought for a long second about what to do, and then he made his decision.

'Quilava! I choose you!'

'Lava,' Quilava hissed, steam radiating off the flames that lined its back, Nixie suddenly looked thrilled at the introduction of the fire type.

And before Tien could spend more than two seconds thinking about what to do, he called loudly, 'Quilava, Eruption!'

There was a massive explosion of fire that seemed to rupture through the floor, sending bits of the floor up around Glameow and rivets of fire burst at all sides, successfully hitting Glameow, 'This is why I love fire types,' Nixie commentated from the side.

Glameow seemed to be badly hurt, it was barely on its feet, and severely at risk of falling over as it stumbled slightly in its place, 'Glameow!' Tien yelled in concern, 'That's it! Sucker Punch!'

Out of nowhere, glowing, armless, fists seemed to pop up around Quilava, and began slamming into it, but Ash wasn't going to take it, 'Quilava, Aerial Ace!' he yelled.

Quilava leapt forward, running forward as fast as it could, and then it disappeared, for a split second before coming from the opposite angle and slamming directly into Glameow. The cat like Pokémon once again faltered in its step before falling to the ground, its eyes shut tightly.

'Glameow is no longer able to battle, the round goes to Quilava.'

Tien looked quite irritated, but she just got this sickly sweet smile on her face, and her hand moved to her next Pokéball, 'Ursaring, come on out.'

There was a humongous roar that seemed to shake the entire battle field. The humongous bear like Pokémon towered at about eight feet tall, extraordinarily tall even for an Ursaring. Tien beamed widely as she looked at the stunned looks on everyone's faces.

'The brilliant thing about normal types is although, any Pokémon can learn a normal type move, normal types can learn a move from almost any type. For example, Ursaring, use Earthquake.'

There was a colossal roar once more, and a humongous slam as, Ursaring slammed its paws to the ground. Tremors started rupturing through the already unstable battle field, ripping up the chrome flooring and the bare turf underneath. Quilava seeming to respond out of instinct, leapt into the air, spinning, keeping itself free of the vibrating ground, but it clearly wouldn't be able to keep itself up there forever, but this action gave Ash an idea.

'Flame Wheel now!'

The fire began spreading from the flames on Quilava's back, until slowly the inferno spread until it encased its entire form. The blaze became immense, and it soon was floor to ceiling in a spectacular meld of reds, oranges and yellows.

'This is not good,' Tien muttered, 'Ursaring, Gunk Shot!'

An immense blast of toxic purple substance, retched from Ursaring's throat, and it tore through the flames, striking Quilava, but even as it did, the flames rolled forward, enveloping Ursaring and there was a sudden roar of pain. Smoke filled up the entire room, and everyone was coughing and choking on the smoke, but by the time it had cleared, the battlefield was almost flat. Ursaring was on the ground, fur singed, eyes closed, the flames had been too much for even the immense beast. But Quilava was down to, the strength of the Earthquake and the energy taken to perform Aerial Ace, Eruption and then the humongous Flame Wheel had weakened it greatly, the Gunk Shot had finally wiped it out.

'Neither Pokémon is fit for battle, this round ends in a tie, will both trainers select a new Pokémon,' Nixie said seeming to get a strange look spreading across her face.

Ash thought for a second, Tien could pull anything, and she seemed perfectly content to wait for him to make his call, and then he decided that if she wasn't going to go, he had to. If her Ursaring could pull a Gunk Shot and an Earthquake attack, and her Glameow knew both Sucker Punch and Shadow Ball then it stranded to reason that all of her Pokémon had a wide variance of moves. Whatever he picked she'd pick a normal type which had a special move that was capable of wiping out his type. He really had no choice. He had to give himself a type advantage, so it was time for him once more, to send Primape into battle.

'Primape, come on out!'

Primape launched into the air, spinning, boxing gloves raised, landing on the ground with a colossal thump, 'Prime!'

'Good to have you here Primape.'

'Since when does Ash have a Primape?' Dawn whispered to Misty.

'He barely even had it for a few weeks before he left it in training, Primape was always a little too hard to handle when Ash was a beginner. They only really had one proper bonding moment when Primape was helped by Ash into winning a Pokémon Grand Prix, a big fighting type competition. He left it in training, but never had time to go back for it. I don't know how they will go with each other seeing as he's been with another trainer for so long,' Misty explained.

Tien seemed to smile strangely at Ash, before she pulled a Pokéball out that seemed to be that little bit shinier than the others before she said, 'Meet my partner in crime. Delcatty, let's take this little monkey out.'


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

**'Delcatty the Prim Pokémon. Delcatty prefers to live an unfettered existence in which it can do as it pleases at its own pace. Because this Pokémon eats and sleeps whenever it decides, its daily routines are completely random.'**

Ash's Pokédex read out loudly to him, but at the same time Ash could barely remember seeing this Pokémon more than once and had very little knowledge on it, until May shouted out to remind him, 'Ash! Delcatty is Skitty's evolved form! Be careful, it can learn pretty much any type of move!'

Ash nodded, both comforted and freaked out by May's information. At the very least he knew how to handle a Skitty, but he knew that a Delcatty would be a lot stronger.

'Delcatty here washed up on shore as an egg on my tenth birthday, my first, strongest and partner Pokémon,' Tien spoke fondly, 'Delcatty, use Shadow Ball into Wake-up Slap.'

The swirling black and purple energy, began materializing in front of Delcatty, and then with a front flip it flung it forward with a slash of its glowing tail. Even as Ash yelled to Primape to move, it some how split into a large sideways arch that widened to the width of the battlefield. It crashed into Primape; sending the fighting Pokémon, flying backwards.

'Primape!' Ash yelled in shock.

'That looked like a coordinator move,' May whispered to Drew.

'I think it was,' he muttered back looking slightly stunned.

'Primape, can you get back up!?' Ash called.

Primape pushed itself back up onto its feet, and Ash hesitated for a second, and he realised he only had one choice. Primape couldn't stay in there, it was far too dangerous. He couldn't let Primape lose trust in him by losing so harshly in this battle.

'Primape return.'

'Is this a habit of yours Ash?' Tien called loudly, 'Withdrawing them quickly so you can pull them back out at any time it suits you? So you can leave your more powerful Pokémon till last?'

'This seems odd, even for Ash,' Brock muttered, 'He's never been so careful. He'd usually use a Pokémon's last reserves of energy to cause a double knock out.'

'Yeah, something's definitely up with him,' Dawn agreed.

'I can see why he'd take out Primape, they'd only just gotten back to each other, he would want to make sure Primape didn't lose his trust in him. But that on top of Heracross... I don't quite understand,' Misty whispered. Max looked confused, before asking, 'Did anyone actually hear anything about Unova from him?'

The entire group shook their heads, Ash's technique wasn't making any sense to any of them, 'Heracross, come back out!' Ash called.

'What is he doing?' Max demanded under his breath.

'Heracross, you know what to do,' Ash said.

Heracross still seemed slightly weakened, but nodded. Tien seemed to hesitate, not seeming to understand why Heracross was just standing there, motionless, she was definitely unsure of what was going on. Her brow furrowed, Ash hadn't given a direct order, she didn't seem to know how to make a heads or tails of what was going on.

But that was when seeming to panic she loudly commanded, 'Delcatty, return! Braviary!'

Delcatty disappeared and almost instantly Braviary took off from Tien's side, landing on the field. Ash looked at Braviary, it had a double type advantage against Heracross, but still he didn't make a move to recall it.

'Heracross, use Hyper Beam.'

There was an incredible explosion of orange light, that slammed straight into Braviary, knocking the shrieking eagle Pokémon straight out of the sky flat into the ground. Heracross wavered for a few split seconds, before falling completely fainted to the floor. Ash ran forward, picking the bug type into his arms, smiling at it softly.

'Thank you Heracross,' he said quietly, before withdrawing it.

'Heracross is unable to battle, this round goes to Braviary,' Nixie announced seeming completely confused with what had happened.

Braviary staggered weirdly until it was resting gently on its claws, not seeming to be particularly stable after the blow from the Hyper Beam, but Ash knew now what to do, 'Pikachu, I choose you! Ready buddy?'

'Pika!' Pikachu chirped bolting onto the field.

'Good choice Ash,' Tien commented, 'But once again, type advantages mean very little here. Braviary, Rock Slide.'

Out of no where a colossal amount of boulders fell out of no where, Ash wasn't sure at even sure where they appeared from, or how on Earth but he wasted no time getting Pikachu out of there, 'Quick Attack to dodge!'

'Pi!'

Pikachu dodged desperately, running around frantically, the boulders missing by millimeters each time. But still the boulders kept falling, until eventually Ash thought of another solution.

'Jump up and hit the next rock with Iron Tail Pikachu!' Ash called, 'And then straight into Quick Attack with a Take Down.'

Ash's complex order seemed to work almost immediately. Pikachu's glowing tail sliced through a bolder cleanly, sending half of it back at Braviary who managed to dodge it. But Braviary clearly couldn't move in time to miss the glowing electric mouse who slammed straight into the large bird Pokémon, knocking the already weakened Pokémon to the ground. But when Braviary still managed to force itself to its feet, Ash made one last call.

'Pikachu, use Thunder Bolt!'

'Pi... ka... CHU!'

Even as the immense electric light faded away, everyone was still blinking trying to clear the brilliant glow that was messing with their vision, and when everything came back into focus, they heard Nixie make her call, 'Braviary is unable to battle, this round goes to Pikachu. As Leader Tien has lost three of her Pokémon, the half time break shall now result, trainers have fifteen minutes to regroup and rest.'

Ash smiled in relief, and held his arms out and Pikachu ran over, jumping straight into them, 'Good job buddy,' he praised, 'That might be the break we needed.'

**The cover picture for this story is currently Tien. Also I'm running a poll for which gym you'd like to see next, out of the following: Flying, Bug and Rock. So either vote on the poll on my profile, or send in a review with what you'd like to see next. And to all my readers, thank you so very much for reading this and I hope that a few of you can do me the courtesy of dropping a review. Much love to all of you. And please remember to vote.**

**~Selina**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

'Ash?' Nixie interrupted.

Ash was in a side room, talking to his friends, but mainly to Misty and Brock, both of which were gushing advice as fast as they could, Ash looked up, 'What is it Nixie?'

'Look, it's not exactly part of my requirements as a guide to give you battle advice, but I know Tien, you may have more Pokémon left, but she's not done. Tien's Delcatty is ridiculous. My advice, don't send any water or rock types up against it, they'll get destroyed in fifteen seconds flat. Do you have an ice type on you?'

'Ah yeah… how'd you know?' he asked confusedly.

'Keep it away from her other Pokémon, I can't tell you what they are, but they both know high leveled moves that will be super effective against it. And an ice or another fire type, although I doubt you've got another, is possibly your best bet against Delcatty, which now that its weakened, she'll be saving it to last.'

'…Is that all…?' he asked weakly, feeling slightly weirded out by Nixie's five thousand miles a second speech.

'No, one other thing, you do realise that your Primape knows Outrage right?'

'It does?!' Ash exploded, 'Anthony never mentioned anything about that when I picked Primape up!'

'Well it knows Outrage, better make use of it, very few non-dragon Pokémon can pick up on a move like that,' Nixie said with a colossal eye roll before walking out of the room.

'…That girl is such a know it all,' Drew remarked when the silence appeared too much for him.

'I'm with Drew on this one,' Max added.

'You two are such hypocrites,' May sighed.

Drew glared at May, but Max seemed to have no idea what she was talking about thankfully Brock stepped in, 'Know it all or not, she clearly knows way more about Tien and her Pokémon then the rest of us do.'

…

'The battle between Tien the gym leader and Ash the challenger shall now resume, both trainers select your Pokémon,' Nixie announced loudly.

Tien grinned before easily selecting a Pokéball, 'Persian, come on out.'

'She's leaving him in the dark of her final Pokémon on purpose,' Misty whispered, 'She wants to make sure she has one surprise left at the minimum.'

Ash seemed to realise what Tien was up to without Misty's hushed whisper, but he was still hesitating, at least until he made his call, 'Buizel, I choose you!' he called.

The bright orange weasel flipped through the air, landing on the ground, a determined glint gleaming in its eye, 'Buizel!' it announced proudly.

Tien didn't even blink, she just seemed oddly curious, 'That Pokémon has had more than one trainer, hasn't it? And one of them was definitely a coordinator.'

'Breeders,' Nixie sighed loudly.

'Is she right?' May asked Brock.

'Yeah, Buizel was Dawn's originally but she and Ash traded when they realized that Buizel was better suited for battling,' Brock replied, 'How she figured that out is my question.'

'Buizel, use Sonic Boom!' Ash called.

Buizel's two tails swished around each other before there was a glowing white light cut through the wind, slamming straight into Persian who didn't even seem to react. Persian simply shook itself out and began licking one of its paws.

'Huh?' Ash asked not understanding before making another call, 'Buizel, use water gun!'

Buizel, shaking itself out from the shock that its last attack hadn't worked, launched straight into the next attack, the water gushing straight from its mouth in a powerful but steady stream. Persian seemed bored as it dodged the attack, and continued to dodge seeming completely emotionless as it jumped and ran from wave after wave of the water gun.

'Cats hate getting wet, but I doubt that'll be a problem, Persian, use Aerial Ace,' Tien chirped.

In a flash Persian slammed out of no where straight into Buizel's side so hard that it looked for a second like it might have burst the rubber tube around its neck. Persian seemed amused as Buizel shrieked in pain, before simply starting to lick its paws, purring gently.

'Are you okay Buizel?!' Ash called.

'Bui,' it panted.

'Okay, try to use your Aqua-' Ash began, but Tien completely cut him off.

'Foul Play Persian!' she yelled.

There was a sudden pulse of dark energy flying from Persian, that knocked Buizel flying. Before it crashed to the ground, nose first, whiskers twitching delicately, seeming to be on the verge of passing out.

'You've got to get up Buizel,' he begged.

Buizel struggled in its place, but even as it pulled itself into a vaguely standing position, it collapsed again, and then completely passed out, 'Buizel!' Ash yelled.

You could hear Dawn's mutual cry of anguish from the sidelines, as she watched the Pokémon who'd once belonged to her fall to the ground with no energy left. Ash looked completely and utterly stunned, he had no idea what to do, a conflicted look coming across his face as he thought for a long moment before eventually he made his call, 'Pikachu, are you ready to go back in buddy?'

'Pika Pi!'

'What is he doing? Why doesn't he send out-'

'Because Nixie warned him about sending Glalie out and he can't send Primape out when that Persian knows Aerial Ace,' Misty hissed to Max quietly, who instantly flushed realising what he missed, 'Pikachu's the best hope he has right now.'

'Nice try Ash,' Tien laughed as Pikachu bounded onto the field, 'But Persian still has one last trick left. Persian, use Power Gem.'

The jewel on Persian's forehead began to glow a fiery, intense red. And flying straight from the center of its forehead came a colossal beam of pink light fringed with a blinding, white, sparking pulse.

'Pikachu, watch out!' Ash yelled.

Pikachu dodged by mere millimeters, but even as it did, it got hit by a sudden strike of Aerial Ace that Ash didn't even hear Tien call, 'Pikachu!' he yelled.

Pikachu slid along, belly down on the ground, but even as it got knocked down, the electric type picked itself straight back up before Ash called loudly, 'Pikachu, use Electro Ball.'

Pikachu's body was surrounded by fluro yellow electricity, dozens of sparks shooting off its body. With a sharp crackle, it all condensed in a zap into Pikachu's tail, a sharp ball of yellow-orange orb forming before in a front flip, the lighting ball flung forward. Even as Persian bolted for it, the ball seemed to be following it as it zoomed forward, and Persian seemed done for but all of a sudden, their positions changed.

'Persian! Use Iron Tail to send it straight back!' Tien yelled.

There was a sudden glow on Persian's tail, but suddenly it smashed straight into the Electro Ball, and before anyone knew what happened, it smashed straight into Pikachu. Pikachu faltered, struggling to keep its stance, before the doubled attack proved to much and it fainted straight to the ground. Tien looked victoriously at Nixie, even as Ash yelled out in shock, but Nixie just held up a finger for her to wait. Everyone was confused, but it was clear Nixie had sensed something no one else had when Persian suddenly collapsed as well.

'Neither Pokémon is able to battle, if both trainers will withdraw their Pokémon and select another... Also stop making this so dramatic, you're making my teeth hurt.'

Ash was about to send Glalie into battle when he remembered once again Nixie's warning. And what she said about Delcatty definitely being the last Pokémon Tien would use in battle, but he had to be sure, so he waited. The young girl he was facing didn't even seem to waver on her decision, she just smiled and sent another Pokémon into battle, but as the large brown rabbit appeared on the field, Ash was stunned.

'Lopunny,' it sang delicately.

**Please read and review, and don't forget to vote on the next gym you'd like to see, visit the poll on my profile.**

**~Selina**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

'Nixie, I thought you said she was a cat person!'

'She is, and if you'd taken me seriously when I said it, you would have known three of her Pokémon, normal and cat like kind of narrows it down,' Nixie snapped, 'Now select your next Pokémon.'

Ash considered once again using Glalie, but Nixie's warnings once again rained in his head, and that's when he picked up Primape's Pokéball and flung it forward, 'Primape, come back out!'

'The monkey, again?' Tien sighed boredly, 'Lopunny, use Thunder.'

'Primape, run to the back corner of the field, get as far out of range as you can!' he yelled.

Primape managed to miss most of the glowing electric charge by mere millimeters, but its fur was still singed lightly, 'Primape Close Combat!' Ash yelled.

Primape launched itself forward and in a flash it started kicking, punching, hitting and smashing Lopunny around, before Tien called loudly, 'Lopunny Blizzard!'

There was an explosion of ice that radiated from Lopunny, sending Primape flying. It may have been a weak move against the species type, but at such a close range the affect was devastating. And seeing the damage still remaining to her Lopunny, Tien seemed enraged.

'Okay, that's it, Lopunny, finish Primape off with a Hyper Beam.'

'Primape, don't let her attack first, use your Outrage attack!' Ash yelled.

Primape's eyes glowed a bright piercing red and its entire form was surrounded in a red hue, before it charged forward, seeming completely enraged and began attacking Lopunny. But Lopunny stayed firm just long enough for the colossal beam of orange and yellow energy to explode out showering the entire room in a blinding light. Both trainers were forced to cover their eyes as the light became to intense, but when it cleared once more they were stunned.

'Neither Pokémon is ready for battle. Will both trainers please select their final Pokémon for the round that decides the match.'

Ash stared in hopeless disbelief, the shock equal on Tien's face, her eyes swimming with tears, but as both of them recalled their Pokémon, they looked at each other and with a sharp nod, they both called their final choices.

'Delcatty I choose you!'

'Glalie I choose you!'

Tien looked at Ash's choice, before saying, 'Nyx, you have no shame do you?'

'Since when have I ever?' Nixie shrugged.

'Just because she gave you advice on what to use against my Delcatty, doesn't mean this is over,' Tien laughed, 'I'm a Carinthia after all, and we fight to the death. Delcatty, Zen Headbutt!'

The purple section of Delcatty's head started glowing before Delcatty charged forward, smashing into Glalie and sending the floating head flying through the air, and before Ash could make a call Tien yelled, 'Now Wake-up Slap!'

Delcatty's glowing tail slammed straight into Glalie knocking it flying again, but Ash already had made a decision, 'Glalie! Use your Ice Beam attack!'

The frozen jet smashed hard into Delcatty, already beginning to freeze it into place, but Tien wasn't done, 'Counter with your own Ice Beam!' she shrieked.

Delcatty shrieked loudly as the ice beam ruptured from its throat, but as it clashed with the other beam, there was a large explosion that shattered the ceiling, causing glass to rain down from the ceiling in the already slightly broken ceiling. But despite the powerful explosion, both Pokémon stood their ground, refusing to give in, even though it was clear Glalie was worse for ware.

'Delcatty, use your Solarbeam to finnish it off-'

But Ash knew he only had one last shot to win the match, it was risky but he wanted to win so desperately, 'Glalie! Sheer Cold!'

Tien's eyes widened in alarm, and she yelled frantically, 'Delcatty! Get out of there!'

But Delcatty wasn't fast enough, rooted to the spot by its warming up Solarbeam and the frosty air surrounded it, overwhelming it immediately, 'Please work, please work, please work,' Ash caught himself whispering.

The room became unbelievably cold, and the chill was followed by a sudden sharp flash that blinded them and then suddenly Delcatty was on the ground, tail twitching slightly but far from getting up, and after a few seconds Nixie made her call, 'Delcatty is unable to battle, this match goes to challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!'

Ash was suddenly overwhelmed with relief and joy as he realised he'd won before he ran to Glalie's side, hugging the ice type cheering loudly, 'Alright! You did it Glalie you did it!'

'Pika!' Pikachu cheered charging over from where it had been recovering on the sidelines, leapt into Ash's arm, chattering loudly in Pokémon speak to Glalie, who weakly spoke back.

'Congratulations Ash, you earned it, just like Delcatty has earned a nice long rest,' Tien sighed calling her Pokémon back, 'Your Pokémon are truly amazing and the relationships you have built with your Pokémon clearly show you have what it takes to go all the way. This match may have been close but I'm certain that you are truly the better battler.'

'You were a great too Tien, I haven't had a battle like that in a very long time,' he said still beaming ear to ear, so relieved, so happy that he won, he still knew how to battle.

Tien giggled before pulling something out of the pocket of her skirt, 'Please accept this Tyche Badge as the symbol of your win here in the Eclipse Islands. It is known as a symbol of trust, so bare it well, your one step along the path that is the Eclipse League. And just between you and me Ash, its going to take a lot of practice and a lot of work, but I have a feeling you've got what it takes to get all the way to the top. Please, take this Ash.'

In Tien's palm lay a single circular silver badge, glistening with a white, six point star in the middle. Beaming all over his face, Ash took the badge in between his fingers, looking at it as the light flickered over its surface.

And before he could help himself he found himself striking a pose and announcing loudly to his friends, 'I won a Tyche Badge!'

...

'So I guess this is goodbye,' Nixie said smiling softly from where she stood outside the gym with Tien by her side.

'I guess it is,' Misty said saying what everyone else was thinking, 'We're gonna miss you Nixie.'

'Of course you are, how could you not?' she laughed weakly before pulling Misty into a hug.

Nixie pulled each of them into a hug one by one and surprised them all by hugging Brock, who just went bright red and concentrated on not talking, he seemed in a permanent fear of getting hit by her.

'So where are you guys planning on going now?' Tien asked beaming at them.

'We're going to-... Wait guys where are we going?' Ash asked.

There came a massive exasperated sigh from all of his friends, 'Don't you have that figured out yet?!' a few of them asked.

'...Well... Not exactly...'

Nixie and Tien were both laughing their heads off, when Ash realised something else, 'Wait a second, even if we did know where we were going, how would we get there? I mean I don't have my Lapras any more.'

His friends all sweat dropped before Misty yelled at him, 'For god's sake Ash Ketchum! Would it kill you to have a plan for once!?'

'Calming down Misty!' Brock said stepping in between them.

'Nixie, where do you suggest we go?' Max asked, doing the logical thing and asking someone who knew what they were doing.

'I think you should probably head over to the flying gym, Tien's sister Aura runs the gym, it's where trainers go to earn their Aeolus badges. It's probably the closest island to here, south west, about a day by boat.'

'Speaking of boats, is there a ferry to go there?' Drew asked.

'We don't have a ferry system here yet,' Tien said shaking her head, 'We're working on it, but it'll still be a couple of months before we actually have it up and running, and I doubt you want to wait for that.'

'How do trainers get around if there aren't any ferries?' May asked looking confused.

'We do have boats for hire, but most people either travel on a water type, some people even fly island to island on a flying type,' Tien explained, 'Usually people aren't traveling in such a big group admittedly- Nixie are you being quiet? You're weirding me out!'

'I was sorta thinking... I do have a boat that they could use, especially if money is an issue, because the boats sure as hell aren't cheap,' Nixie explained.

'You do!? Thanks so much!-' May began but Nixie cut her off.

'One problem, no one drives my baby except for me, that boat is mine and no one else is allowed to be behind the wheel of it except for me,' Nixie said cutting across her.

'Then why did you offer it to us?' Dawn asked who was looking slightly sea sick at even the mention of boats.

'...I get bored here, very often... my attention span is ridiculously short... but if you guys want the boat... and will consent to having me... I wouldn't mind coming along with you,' Nixie said awkwardly.

Tien looked slightly surprised at Nixie's sudden decision she wanted to travel with them, but Ash and the others all were grinning at each other before Ash asked, 'What do you say guys? Are you up for traveling with Nixie?'

'Ring ring ring, ring, ring, ring, phone call, phone call! Ring ring ring, ring-'

'You've reached Aura.'

'Hey Aura, its Tien, why aren't you turning on your video screen?'

'I'm three and a half thousand meters off the ground with Altaria. Why are you calling me Tien?'

'Just giving you a heads up that you've got a challenger headed your way. Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, he narrowly beat me a couple of hours ago, but he might have the potential to actually win the league, there's something different about him.'

'Is that really what you called to tell me Tien? You could have just sent an e-mail, or just used the button system that we usually use.'

'I know... and no that's not what I called to tell you exactly... it's just kind of weird...'

'Aren't our lives the definition of weird?'

'True... it's just that... Ash has a large group of people traveling with him... Two former gym leaders, a rookie trainer, a couple of coordinators and... one of our sisters... and none of them have the slightest idea about it... and when she shows up... yeah you're going to have to call her Nixie.'

**Hello all, feeling slightly under-appreciated author here, I love the fact that so many of you are reading, but if I could get a few more reviews, it would make writing it so much better and I'd probably update more often, so please do drop me a comment or two, anything you have to say I'd be happy to hear, whether you love it, hate it, or want me to change a few things, I'd be happy to hear anything you have to say... sorry if this sounds needy... I'm averaging less than two reviews a chapter... Love you all.**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

'That is the coolest damn boat I've ever seen,' flew straight out of Drew's mouth.

'And its that reason precisely why I'm never letting any of you at the wheel of it,' Nixie snapped rolling her eyes before she leapt off the pier into the boat.

It was large for a speed boat with a second floor which consisted of an bottom floor with a row of seats on the front around the railing. There was a ladder that lead to an upper, raised platform where all the controls were, with a special seat clearly just for Nixie. The outside of the boat was painted white with lines of black around the edge, and there was a shiny metal railing going along the top. Under the platform there was an extra room, with a small, basic cooking area, hammocks, and a fridge, with a phone in the corner and a small writing desk.

'Hop in and stop gaping you lot,' Nixie laughed who was half way up the ladder to the top platform.

'Do we really have to go on the boat?' Dawn whispered.

'Hun, you'll get over the sea sick thing the longer you spend on the boat,' Nixie called, 'By the way, avoid dairy products, also if you get vomit on my boat I'm going to throw you over board.'

Everyone else clambered on the boat, but Dawn stayed rooted to the peer until Piplup somehow said something to convince her to come on the boat, 'Piplup, piplup! Pip! Pip!'

Dawn shakily stepped onto the boat, and instantly looked green, and honestly went three shades worse when Nixie called out, 'Don't worry hun, I'll be going so fast you won't be able to feel the bumps!'

'Nixie!' Dawn shrieked.

'I kid Dawn, I kid.'

...

'So I presume the three of you are here for the cup right?' Nixie asked as they sat around the campfire on the tiny island they were using for a lunch break.

Dawn, May and Drew all looked at each other in confusion, 'Excuse me?'

'Your coordinators, you really wouldn't have much of a reason to come here unless you were competing for the cup,' Nixie said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'What are you talking about Nixie?' Drew asked.

'Dude, you freakin' won the Johto Grand Festival, how could you not be competing for the cup?'

'What cup!?' Drew snapped getting frustrated with Nixie quickly.

'Oh! You guys don't know about it? The Hydra Cup?'

'Never heard of it,' Dawn said.

'Oh, I thought you guys would've known, anyone who gets into the top sixteen in any of the festivals got an invitation to compete, of course its open to everyone.'

'Sorry, I still have no idea what you're talking about,' May said looking extremely confused.

'Well it's no big secret that Hydra Carinthia is a very talented coordinator, and in order to bring more people to the Eclipse Islands, and also an excuse to see another contest, she set up the Hydra Cup to bring coordinators here. It's quite a bit like the Wallace Cup, seeing as we don't have our own circuit here, they have a ribbon to give away that can be used as qualifying ribbon in any of the contest circuits world wide,' Nixie explained, 'I thought you guys would have heard something about it.'

'A ribbon that can be used to enter any festival,' Drew clarified.

'Yeah, she had to do a lot of negotiating with the Presidents of the Contest Circuits, but she finally got permission.'

'When is it and where do I sign up?!' Dawn said enthusiastically.

'It's still a little while away, about a month, if you guys want to compete you're going to have to get to her island in time for the festival. But that should be too much of a problem; we can leave plenty of time to get the three of you there.'

'But what about my gym battles-'Ash began but Misty swatted him over the head.

'The three of them have something to do here other than just following you, honestly Ash; you can still have your gym battles.'

'Besides Ash, all the gyms fill be closed for the Festival, the Carinthia Family are hosting the event, all of them will be there, it won't take any time out from your gym challenges, besides you can use it as an excuse to have a break and train a little. By the way, what Pokémon are you planning on using against Aura?'

'Well I was hoping you'd have some advice, I do have an idea on what I should do, but I was hoping you'd have some inside info like you did on Tien. Do you know Aura that well?' he asked.

'Wow, did Ash actually just say something smart?' Misty quipped.

He glared at her but Nixie just laughed, 'I'm flattered really, but truth be told, no one really knows Aura that well, she's a very private, quiet person. Even her own family rarely hear her speak and the only time she actually smiles is when she's flying. But I do know a bit about her Pokémon. And it's going to be tough.'

'Why?'

'Well… You know how flying types are never pure or even primarily flying types?'

'Yeah, everyone does,' Ash said not understanding where this was going.

'Well… Are you aware of the only one that is? A Tornadus?'

'She has a Tornadus!?' Ash exploded.

'Yep,' Nixie said off handedly, nodding assuredly at him.

'How on Earth am I supposed to take her on when she has a legendary Pokémon?' he asked, instantly worried.

'You do what you always do when you're up against a legendary Pokémon,' Brock said matter-of-factly, 'You use Charizard.'

That was when Brock realised once again that he'd broken the non-speaking rule but as he recoiled expecting a thwack, Nixie looked at him exasperatedly and said, 'You seem to misunderstand what I meant by no talking, I don't particularly care what you're talking about as long as you stop hitting on me. And what is this about a Charizard?'

'It's been training in the Charasific Valley for the last couple of years but when I have a big tournament or a tough battle coming up I can still call on Charizard and it flies over to fight.'

'Remember the time that it beat Articuno?' Max grinned.

'You saw an Articuno?' Dawn asked in surprise.

'I haven't told that story yet?' Ash asked looking surprised.

'No!'

'I was at the Battle Frontier, the battle factory, and I was allowed to pick which Pokémon I wanted to battle, so I decided to pick his Articuno. I called in Charizard straight from the Charasific Valley for the battle. And well, we won, narrowly, but we won.'

'It was majorly intense!' May giggled.

'It was so awesome!' Max cheered.

Nixie grinned, 'Sounds like a plan, but be careful though, if you use all of your Pokémon up battling Tornadus, then you're going to have nothing left to battle her other Pokémon, because they've all got another type up their sleeve and you can't forget that.'

'Do you know any of her other Pokémon?' Ash asked hopefully.

'I do, but I'm sorry, I can't say anything, it wouldn't be right, no trainer should get more information than the other, I was just telling you some common knowledge. The only other thing I can say is that you need to be prepared to face anything. I can't say for sure which Pokémon she will use in battle; she has more than six so if you find out any of her others there is no guarantee she'll use them. There are only two you can be sure your facing, Tornadus, because she is trying to train it to the best of her standard, she hasn't had it for overly long, and her partner Pokémon, which I can't name.'

'Wait? Her partner Pokémon? The Altaria?' Max asked.

'How did you know about that?!' Nixie demanded seeming surprised.

Max held up a small training card, 'Once I found out we were coming here I did a little research into the Carinthia's, they have training cards and everything.'

'Wait, since when are there training cards?' Nixie asked snatching the card out of his hand looking slightly alarmed.

'I don't know, I'm trying to collect them all, there's a couple for each sibling, there's battling tips, analysis of their strategies and information on their partner Pokémon. I hope I can get a full set while I'm here, I bought a few packs of them while I was at this little souvenir shop on Tien's island.'

'Wait who do you have it of? Which of the Carinthia's?'

'Oh I have Tien and Aura, I also have Demetrius and Vidonia and Duska and Ivy, oh yeah and I got this one of Andreas the other day,' Max said proudly not seeming to notice the rather increased sharpness to Nixie's tone.

'Oh right, I didn't realise there were training cards, that's all,' she said seeming to relax.

'Can I have a look Max?' Ash asked, Max nodded happily and pulled a small deck of cards from his pocket.

The others crowded around to look at the cards, and almost instantly Brock had a small explosion, before shoving both fists in his mouth to shut himself up, 'Seeing something you like Brock?' Misty observed far from finding it funny.

He squeaked slightly before saying, 'Ah… Vidonia, she's a very good breeder, I was just admiring-'

'Yeah right,' all of them chorused.

'Vi will thrash you within an inch of your life if you piss her off, just warning you Brock,' Nixie said, 'She's the reason Andreas spars with his Pokémon, he wants to find some way to defend himself from her. She always attacks him.'

'She will?!' Brock squeaked.

'Vi is a real sweetheart most of the time, but she's got a short temper, and she's paranoid to the core, outside her family and a few select friends, the only other thing she trusts are Pokémon, nothing else,' Nixie observed.

Brock seemed to be looking between the card and Nixie, like he was hoping that she'd be wrong because of the girl's appearance, and rolling her eyes she said, 'Dude, relax. If you don't hit on her, then you're not going to have a problem. That goes for all of the Carinthia sisters, none of them are particularly good tempered, and the ones who won't get angry will get you back in ways that you'd never expect, and will probably scar you for life in the process. Besides, you're subjected to her brothers if you get one to go out with you, it never ends well.'

'The brothers are protective?'

'Mostly Demetrius and Lectron, but every now and then Andreas will scare the crap out of them, but if that's for his sisters sake or his own enjoyment it isn't entirely obvious yet,' Nixie smiled.

The group laughed and Nixie smiled, 'Come on, we better get back on the water if we want to get to the island by sun down.'

**Hey guys, and thank you, thank you, thank you for your influx of reviews when i asked! It made me feel so much better. Look i know I haven't updated for a while, but it was because I was a little bit stuck, it was a rather lax chapter and I didn't know how to make it interesting because if I went straight onto the next gym battle it would move far to fast, don't worry guys, I'm planning to make it more interesting soon, I'm working on it really. And thank you, thank you, thank you again to all the amazing reviewers, you made my day with every single one, and I guarantee you, all of your ideas will be taken into account, thanks so much and pretty please review again.**

**~Selina**


	15. Chapter 15

**And for my next trick a shall make two old rivals reappear. **

Chapter 15:

The group was talking cheerfully on the deck of the boat. Dawn seemed to have vaguely been able to calm down enough to play around with Piplup, talking to May and Drew about contest techniques and some of the things they were working on with their Pokémon. Max and Brock were both talking about the different ways to raise psychic Pokémon while Max's Ralts stood on the railing of the boat, staring at the setting sun in the distance, seeming fixated on it. Misty was half hanging off the side of the boat, calling out to her Golduck who was swimming just as fast as the boat was going but looked entirely relaxed.

Ash however was lost in thought, trying to think of some way to deal with the next gym. He knew about a Tornadus and an Altaria, but flying types within themselves were tricky. Sure, they were weak to electric, ice and rock attacks, but at the same time, they could have a secondary type that completely countered that. Even so, Nixie kept reminding him that type advantages meant very little to the Carinthia's, and after seeing that Tien's Pokémon knew so many out of the blue moves, he knew she was right. And he was almost guaranteed to be battling a legendary Pokémon, how was he going to be dealing with that, he'd seen a Tornadus, but he definitely didn't know enough to know what moves it was going to use or even specifically how strong it was going to be.

But his thoughts were interrupted by a loud call from the top deck, 'Hey guys! Up on the horizon, you should be able see Aura's island now if the glare isn't too bad!'

…

The island was covered in a lush green grass, dotted with pale blue, purple and white flowers in small clusters along the shore. There was a large mountain in the distance, and a large forest that covered a majority of the rest of the island. Bird Pokémon by their hundreds swooped through the skies, poked out of trees while they were even swooped by the occasional Wingull. The sky was lit up with the brightest reds, oranges, pinks and yellows surrounding the golden sun which was now setting low on the horizon. There was a small path from the marina that clearly lead to some sort of town for they could see a vague amount of smoke on the horizon, and in the other direction they could see some sort of airfield. It truly was beautiful here.

'You guys go up onto the island, I just need to tie up the boat,' Nixie called loudly.

They all grinned and moved onto the island but it was five minutes later that Ash noticed someone else, someone that he couldn't fail to recognize and all the colour quickly drained from his face, but that was when the person turned around, 'Ash?'

'Trip,' Ash said trying to keep his voice calm.

The others all looked around, unable to not notice Ash's reaction to the appearance of this trainer no one else recognised, 'Still pushing around all those weakling Pokémon?' Trip asked scathingly.

It took a grand total of one and a half seconds for the rest of the group to instantly hate Trip. And within that one and a half seconds, Misty had to be forcibly be held back by Brock to stop her from clobbering Trip.

'Who's this creep Ash?' May said a strange dangerous tone entering her voice.

'This is Trip, a rival of mine from Unova,' Ash said quietly.

'Barely a rival, he's completely inferior,' Trip said boredly.

'Wow, he's worth then Paul,' Dawn whispered.

'Who are all these little friends of yours Ash?'

'This is Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Max and Drew,' Ash explained, but no one could fail to notice how quiet he was.

No one even said hi, even as Trip looked at them, all of them seemed to be filled with a strange loathing on mere sight, 'Hm, their almost as stubborn and pathetic as you,' Trip said, 'The Eclipse Islands are allegedly the home of the world's most difficult league. But I don't understand what they're talking about the kid at the first gym was such a pushover.'

Drew at this point had to help Brock in restraining Misty, he was downright furious at this point, but it was hard. All of them had liked Tien, and they all knew she was far from a pushover, at her age, for her to be as good as she was it was remarkable. Trip seemed to survey their little group with some sort of strange, cold amusement, before his eyes fell upon Misty.

'Misty huh? The ever so well known Cerulean City gym leader.'

Misty stopped struggling and nodded slightly, 'Yes, what of it?'

'How about you go back to the basics that can only be provided in your pathetic little region?' Trip said flatly.

'Okay that is it!' Misty yelled, but before she could get any further, Nixie walked over from the boat surveying the situation cooly.

'What's going on here?' she asked.

Trip looked up, and a look of shock spread across his face as he looked at her before he said carefully, 'Nothing. I was just leaving.'

'Have you challenged Aura yet?' Nixie asked, examining his uncomfortable expression.

'No, I was headed up the mountain-'

'There's no point, its sunset so Aura will be flying with her Pokémon to make sure everything on the island is still sound. And tomorrow morning she already has promised a battle to Ash,' Nixie interrupted and dismissed him effortlessly, and as he silently turned away, like he could sense she was not someone to be trifled with, she stopped him, 'Oh one more thing?'

'Yes?' he asked carefully.

'If I hear you insult any of the Carinthia's ever again,' she said before walking to his side and whispering something in his ear.

Everyone looked at Nixie in shock, somehow her calm was scarier than her anger, and Trip slowly started look progressively more and more freaked, before Nixie leaned back, and he slowly turned around and walked off. Everyone stared at Nixie who was staring coldly after him, her finger tapping against her arm, biting the side of her cheek. Before realising that Nixie wasn't going to tell them what that was about they all turned to look at Ash.

'Ash, I know you've had some pretty horrible rivals, but honestly what's the deal with this guy, why haven't you mentioned him before?' Dawn asked.

The hesitation in Ash's eyes was obvious as he said, 'Well it never came up,' he said awkwardly.

'Never came up?' Brock asked, 'Ash, every time one of asked you about Unova, you'd always say the same thing, you never mentioned him even though we gave you ever opportunity.'

'I asked you if you'd had any good rivals and you shut up the moment I asked, you wouldn't say anything,' May pointed out.

'Guys!' Nixie said sharply shutting them all up immediately, 'If Ash didn't want to talk about that jerk, I don't blame him, I mean really, it's clear there's not a drop of good in him. I've heard about this Trip guy before, from Tien. He's one of the most brutal trainers there is, especially towards wild Pokémon apparently, he regards people from Kanto as hillbillies, he had some weird term for it that I can't remember-'

'Boonies,' Ash said quietly.

'What?' Nixie asked.

'Boonies,' Ash repeated.

'I don't know what that means but I'll kill him for it-' Mist began but Drew interrupted.

'It pretty much means a place that's rural and is considered unsophisticated,' he said boredly.

'Okay how do you even know that?' May asked turning to him looking confused.

Drew hesitated before stating quite simply, 'If you think he looks down on Kanto people, you should see how my parents look at everyone in general.'

It was strange to see Drew reveal something of himself, he never talked about his family, ever. And if that comment meant anything, he might have a good reason. But it was strange to hear him mention them, they were pretty sure that he hadn't been near them in years.

Everyone was quiet before he said briskly, 'And if this Trip guy was a little smarter, he'd have a definitely larger range of insults available to him. Come on, let's get to the Pokémon Centre before it gets dark.'

…

They were almost silent on the way to the Pokémon centre. Ash wasn't talking, nor did anyone think it was a good idea to try to make him talk. Misty was still in a bit of an angry place and Brock had warned them to let her simmer down for a while. Drew was in a weird mood, which must have been brought on by the reminder of his family. And the fact they were still all wondering what Nixie had said to Trip to freak him out so much was not helping.

It wasn't until that they got to the Pokémon Centre a good half hour later that suddenly the tension melted away and they began to talk again as they began eating. There were a large group of other Pokémon trainers in the room, all of which were all far too eager to talk and share their experiences and Dawn was soon laughing her head off as a Pokémon trainer from her hometown started talking about things that it was very clear, only made sense to people from Twinleaf.

'Thank you Nurse Joy,' came a voice that instantly shut Dawn up.

But it was Nurse Joy's response that clearly confirmed Dawn's suspicion of who it was when she said, 'No problem Paul, I'm here to help.'


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Dawn whipped around, one of the little, gold clips she always wore swatting her in the side of the head as she turned and realised with a thud, he was here. Paul was talking to Nurse Joy, looking far different than she'd seen him before, he almost looked happy. The usual leer that had seemed a permanent fixture on his face was gone, and he seemed to be taking better care of himself all together.

His purple hair still hung shaggily over his face, but his pitch black eyes had taken on a new sort of gleam. He was wearing grey shorts, and a dark blue, polo shirt but she could still see the sleeve of his usual jumper sticking out of his backpack. The strangest thing of all was the small, half-smile on his face that didn't actually seem forced for once.

Dawn elbowed Ash in the side to get his attention, and he looked up from where he'd been debating with another Pokémon trainer about the best way to defeat a dragon type, 'what was that for?!' he asked loudly, clutching his side.

The loud cry was enough to get Paul's attention who swung around to face them, and Dawn pointed, and Ash instantly got to his feet, 'Paul,' he said grinning.

'Ash,' he said, with another almost smile, he then looked at Dawn and raised an eyebrow at her, 'Dawn.'

Dawn nodded briefly at him, seeming surprised that he even bothered to remember her name, because before, he never had. And half turned back to her conversation. The others in the group all swung around, all of them had heard about Paul, unlike with Trip.

Brock instantly went over to Paul, shaking his hand, 'Good to see you Paul.'

'And you Brock, last time I heard you were off going to become a doctor.'

'Well someone convinced me to give becoming a breeder one last shot,' Brock said, with a grin.

As Ash came over he instantly asked 'are you here challenging the Eclipse League?'

'Sure am, I can see what they mean about this place, compared to the Carinthia's, other gym leaders are complete push overs,' Paul responded sounding far less disgruntled towards Ash then he'd ever been, 'I just won my Aeolus badge this afternoon.'

'Did you have to face the Tornadus?' Ash asked.

'You know about that?' Paul asked.

'Nixie gave me a bit of a run down on what she knew about Aura's Pokémon, she wouldn't say much but she did mention the Tornadus.'

'Nixie?' he asked not having a clue who he was talking about.

Brock instantly pointed to her, going pink in the cheeks trying to suppress another spasm of love bursts, 'That's her.'

Nixie looked up, and sort of half waved at Paul, but she got this weird warning look on his face, and Paul smirked before turning around, 'Right, that's Nixie. Has she been helping you out?'

'She's our ride around the islands, but she's been pretty helpful, Ash probably wouldn't have beaten Tien if she hadn't helped him,' Brock said.

'Hey!'

'You didn't even bother to check if your Primape had learnt any new moves when you left it in training for what? Six years?' Brock offered.

Ash flushed, while Paul looked amused before saying, 'She didn't actually use her Tornadus, she said it had a really good match the day before so she was letting it rest. But her other Pokémon are far from pushovers. That Altaria is such a pain to try to beat. It's worse than Tien's Delcatty.'

'Really?'

'It is when you think you've almost got it beat and then it uses Heal Bell on itself,' Paul snorted, 'Might want to watch out for that.'

'Huh?' Ash asked.

'It'll be like versing Misty's Corsola when it uses recover,' Brock explained.

'Oh right,' Ash sighed, 'It's so annoying when she does that.'

'Excuse me?!' Misty called loudly turning around to face him practically twitching, 'What did you say about me Ash Ketchum?'

'Um…' he said weakly.

Misty stood up looking intimidatingly at him, and Ash took a step backwards, 'Just a few comments on Pokémon who heal themselves the moment you think you're done with them,' Paul shrugged, 'He mentioned your Corsola as an example. I'm Paul.'

'Misty,' she said, 'I've heard quite a bit about you, but I'm not sure who to believe because it's quite different judging on who is telling the story.'

'I can tell,' Paul smirked, who seemed to look straight at Dawn over her shoulder, before saying, 'The name Misty sounds familiar.'

'Misty was the gym leader in Cerulean City up until about a week ago,' Ash explained.

A very obvious snort came from Paul, 'The Cerulean City Gym? Home of the sensational stuff ups?'

Misty seemed to twitch at this, 'Excuse me?' she hissed dangerously.

'Misty is a much better trainer than her sisters,' Brock interrupted before Misty could clobber him, 'She must have been traveling with us when you went there Paul.'

'Must have, because those three bimbos who were running it then didn't have enough talent to float a paper boat,' Paul said critically.

'Okay that is enough,' Ash interrupted, 'You wouldn't let anyone insult Reggie but you, you need to leave Misty's sisters out of this.'

Paul hesitated, biting his lip before hastily saying, 'I apologise, I should have kept my opinions to myself whether I'm right or not.'

'The Waterflower's of Cerulean City are far from a pushovers,' Misty hissed, knowing the apology was more out of courtesy rather than particularly meant, 'And I'm going to prove it to you, we're battling.'

'Calm down Misty,' Ash tried.

'You're on,' Paul said completely ignoring Ash.

'This is not going to end well is it?' Brock asked Ash looking quite dismayed by the situation.

'No, it definitely is not.'

…

It was dark, but Paul and Misty were stubbornly insisting on battling regardless. Misty seemed in some sort of weird calm, but only Ash and Brock knew her well enough to see the anger bubbling underneath her skin. Paul seemed like he always did before battle, near bored, but at the same time like he had something to prove.

They were standing on the beach, with the street lights from a nearby path lighting up their makeshift battle field. All of the trainers they'd been talking to in the Pokémon centre had come to watch. Max was looking extremely excited to see Misty in a proper battle; he'd only really seen her fight Team Rocket, and the people in the Mirage Kingdom. Ash was sitting with May and Drew, both of which seemed like they could sense this was not going to end well, no matter what the results of the match were. Dawn had gone oddly quiet, but for the first time so far, she really seemed like she was on Misty's side. But it must have been something to do with the fact her dislike of Paul pretty much outweighed anything else.

Brock stood in between Misty and Paul, waiting for both of them to stop glaring at each other, long enough for him to start the match, 'This battle between Paul and Misty is about to begin, this will be a two on two battle, either trainer may substitute at any time. The battle is over when both of a trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Are both trainers ready?... Begin!'

'Electivire, stand for battle,' Paul said.

The giant yellow and black beast erupted into the air with a humongous battle cry, and Misty paused, clearly not having much of an idea about this Pokémon before she pulled out her Pokédex, 'Electivire, the thunderbolt Pokémon, the instant it presses the tips of its tails onto an opponent, it sends over 20,000 volts of electricity into the foe.'

Misty nodded slowly to herself before she selected one of the Pokéball's from her waist, a bright blue lure ball, 'Corsola, I choose you!' she called.

Even Paul looked confused at her choice; Corsola's were a very rare Pokémon, you didn't find them really unless you were in the Whirl Islands, and even then they were hard to find unless you knew where to look. He nodded to himself before he commanded the first move.

'Electivire, use your Thunder.'

As the rippling explosion of intense yellow light erupted towards Corsola, Misty remained completely calm before at the perfect moment she commanded, 'Corsola use your mirror coat.'

A bright orange glow surrounded Corsola, and the thunder barely brushed Corsola as it sent it straight back at Electivire at double the power, 'Electivire Light Screen!' Paul called hurriedly.

A wall of light caused the Thunder attack started to disintegrate, but Paul was quickly betrayed by Electivire's own high attack stat as the remainder of the attack crashed through the light screen and send Electivire backwards, forcing it to the ground. Paul knew his Electivire wasn't hurt, electric attacks had no effect on an Electivire, and went to give another command but Misty's loud call distracted him.

'Corsola, return!'

'Why is Misty bringing Corsola back?' Max asked nudging Ash looking confused, 'Corsola looked fine.'

'Misty didn't know too much about Electivire other than its type at first, she's probably figured out another one of her Pokémon would be a better match against him. Honestly, I never know what Misty is thinking I'm just guessing,' Ash shrugged.

'Golduck, I choose you!'

The tall blue duck leapt from its Pokéball, the ruby glistening in the centre of its forehead as it flexed its fingers in anticipation. Misty seemed perfectly calm about her decision despite the fact that the whispers were floating through the crowd; they knew Electivire had the type advantage.

'What is she doing?' Max asked.

'I don't know,' Ash repeated.

'Golduck, use your Hydro Pump!' she called.

An intense blast of water ruptured from Golduck's mouth as it leapt skywards, but Paul had an idea and he called, 'Electivire, send electricity straight through that Hydro Pump!'

But Misty was more than wise to this trick and she called out, as the electricity spiraled along the water blast, she gave another call, clearly knowing what he was thinking, 'Now Golduck, use your confusion to redirect the attack.'

Golduck's eyes glowed bright blue and just as the electricity was supposed to strike Golduck there was an explosion that enveloped the entire field in smoke and dust. And for a long moment no one could see what was going on, covering their faces, and spitting sand out of their mouths.

And when they finally could see what was going on and the sand had settled, they noticed something, Electivire was looking extremely weakened, but Golduck was gone. Paul looked surprised, looking around for Golduck, but Misty looked terrified.

'Golduck!' she yelled, 'Golduck where are you?!'

There were whispers spreading through the crowd of gathered trainers, and even Paul looked concerned, but he didn't notice what only Ash and Brock could pick up on. Misty's concern wasn't real; she knew what was going on, even if Paul didn't. This was a strategy. No wonder she'd insisted on going to the beach.

'Golduck! Show me where you are!' she yelled.

And that was when Golduck flew out from underneath the sand, striking Electivire in the back so hard that it fell onto its stomach. Paul looked livid when he realised what Misty had done, and she sighed offering him a little smile, 'You have no idea how hard it is to have a water Pokémon who knows dig, but is always fighting on a water field. It's frustrating.'

Paul looked furious before he said, 'Electivire, I know you can get up.'

'Vire...' it panted but got to its feet all the same.

'Good, now use your Thunder Punch!' Paul commanded.

Electivire, clearly on its last bit of energy, swung its fist forward at an impressive speed, and before Misty could call for a dodge, the electrified fist smashed into Golduck. Knocking the duck Pokémon along the ground, causing a large crease in the sand as Misty looked worried.

'Golduck, can you get up?' she asked.

Golduck quivered to its feet, electricity pulsing around its form and Misty came to a haunting realization. Golduck had been paralyzed. She bit her lip, her bright blue eyes burning in concentration as she tried to think of a way through this, before she commanded.

'Please Golduck, use Zen Headbutt for me,' she asked.

Golduck, clear that it was putting it in pain to keep moving, but it was willing to do it for Misty. Concentrating hard the ruby began pulsing again, and Paul realised to take down Golduck, he had one last shot while Electivire had such little energy left.

'Giga Impact Electivire!'

Both of them were glowing, as they forced themselves on their last burst of energy to charge forward, and there was a loud collision that caused a colossal beam of light to erupt through the field. But when the light cleared both Pokémon were on the ground clearly both unconscious.

'Both Pokémon are unable to battle, will both trainers send out their final Pokémon,' Brock said carefully.

It was clear that Brock was very surprised at how much Misty's battling strategy had changed, before it had always reminded him of Ash's, but then he remembered once again, it had been a very long time since she'd been around Ash. And something in her now had started to become almost... ruthless.

'Corsola, I choose you,' Misty called because she had no choice in it.

Paul hesitated for a long moment before he called, 'Weavile stand for battle.'

The small gray Pokémon landed on the field as lightly and as skillfully as a ninja, its bright pink crest spiked up. It was clear from the gleam of its fangs and the spark of the yellow gem on its forehead, how well Paul had raised it. It was a good choice considering Corsola's rock type characteristics, and its mobility compared to Corsola's more grounded on-land fighting style.

'Weavile, use your ice shard attack,' he called.

Glowing disks of ice flew forward and Misty called loudly, 'Break those shards with your pin missile attack Corsola!'

Corsola's horns glowed bright white, before small glowing flecks flew straight towards the fling ice disks, causing them to shatter and fall down on the beach like snow fall.

'Aim a Metal Claw at one of the horns Weavile!' he commanded.

Weavile flew forward, claws glowing and at a lighting fast speed it slashed straight across Corsola, almost severing one of its horns off it was so incredibly fast and strong.

'Corsola!' Misty screamed.

'If you can play dirty then so can I,' he said simply, causing a look of complete and utter fury to come across Misty's face.

Corsola was looking in deep pain but it seemed just angry enough to keep going, 'While its close use your Water Gun Corsola.'

A steady stream of water gushed from Corsola's mouth, knocking Weavile back several feet. It was clear however that it was nowhere near the full power it would usually be, and at Paul's call, it began walking straight through the water gun, before it took another brutal slash to Corsola's face but this time with a Night Slash attack.

'Use Recover Corsola!' Misty yelled in concern.

Even as Corsola struggled to heal itself however, Paul gave his final call, 'Use your Ice Beam attack close range Weavile!'

There was a shattering explosion of icy blue light that completely clouded out the battle field, half blinding the spectators. Slowly it cleared to reveal a tall ice sculpture standing in the middle of the field, and a panting Weavile standing at the base, but there was no sign of Corsola.

Paul looked around wildly before yelling across the field, 'If this is another one of your little ruses Misty-'

'I swear to Arceus it is not!' Misty yelled back

She looked so absolutely terrified that Ash leapt off the wall that he'd been sitting on and ran to her side. Brock, who knew Misty well enough to know this wasn't fake, looked around just as concerned as Misty and Ash.

The entire crowd was dead silent, no one wanted to believe that Misty had no idea what was going on, but that was when she started screaming out Corsola's name, sounding so perfectly deranged that none of them could believe for a second that Misty had anything to do with this.

'Corsola! Corsola! Corsola!'

Even Paul started to look slightly wary, but that was until there was a sudden cry from Dawn, 'Oh my god! Look up there!'

She was standing on the wall that separated the beach from the road; hand outstretched pointing into the sky. Everyone followed her gaze and they realised with a shock, a frozen Corsola was floating in the sky. Misty's eyes widened, clearly not understanding what was going on, but as she stepped forward, Corsola was suddenly wrapped in a blinding white light.

'Corsola...' Misty whispered.

'It's evolving,' Ash murmured in awe.

'But... Corsola's don't evolve-'

'Never presume the mysteries of the Eclipse Islands won't change things that always seemed sound,' came a soft, whispering voice.

That was when Corsola started to change, its blocky shape started to shift and change into a far clearer visible head, neck, body and tail. Spikes of coral rising from its head creating sharp ears and ridges along its nose, with similar more delicate spikes rising along its back and along the tail.

And that was when the light cleared Corsola was there, far different than they'd ever seen before. Its entire form was a turquoisey blue, except for the horns that changed from purple to pink, and the same affect had happened on its underside and the tip of its tail. There were a few yellow shells that seemed to have grown into its body and neck. Its eyes were much larger, glowing a bright black, but warmer and clearly not weary at all, the little whiskers on its nose twitching. Its tail was longer than its body, spiraling underneath it as it hung in the air.

Misty was staring in shock at it before a grin spread across her face, 'Wow… Corsola… wait a second, how am I supposed to know what to call you now?'

'It's called a Corareef,' came the voice of someone walking down the beech towards them, long silver hair billowing out behind her, 'They're not an entirely confirmed specimen yet, there is so much we don't know about them, we don't even know what triggers the evolution, but they're extremely powerful. It's one of three rock type Pokémon with the ability levitate, which helps it mimic the ground type immunity and maneuverability shared by all flying Pokémon.'

'Arceus you're a know it all Aura,' Nixie said who was standing beside her looking amused.

'So this is what you did when you said you were too lazy to come see the battle?' Misty said, still smiling in spite of her tone.

'Well, Aura likes a good battle just as much as the next person, it seemed like it would put her in a better mood to see Paul thrashed after he beat her,' Nixie shrugged.

'Don't disappoint me Misty,' Aura said simply.

Misty looked at Aura, before she looked up at Corareef and back to Aura and she said, 'Don't worry, I won't.'

'Your Pokédex should be able to tell you what moves it has learnt during its evolution,' Ash reminded.

'I know, I know,' she said as she examined it before she called, 'Ready to resume Paul?''

Paul seemed interested in battling this new Pokémon, and he said quite calmly, sure that Weavile could handle it, 'You're on.'

'Trainers, resume the match!' Brock commanded, remembering he was supposed to be refereeing the match.

Corareef floated down, hovering just above the ground in front of Misty. While Weavile jumped back, back flipping through the air to land in front of Paul, the distraction of the evolution enough to restore some of its energy.

'Corareef! Use your Power Gem attack!' Misty called.

The shells all over Corareef's body started glowing, and balls of shattered light flew forward, striking Weavile so fast that even a Pokémon as speedy as this one couldn't dodge.

Weavile was knocked back, but it still stubbornly got up and at Paul's command fired an ice beam. Corareef dodged with surprising ease for a newly evolved Pokémon, before Misty called for a water gun attack. It was fired at twice the power it had before, and even though Weavile managed to doge for a few seconds, Corareef managed to strike it, knocking it backwards, as it tried to keep its footing.

'Use your Metal Claw to block the attack!'

Weavile crossed its arms, and as its claws began to glow, the water ricocheted off them like a fan until Corareef stopped. And that was when Weavile ran forward, and three Metal Claws rang down in quick succession.

Corareef recoiled, floating backwards before Misty called loudly, 'Okay Corareef, use Head Smash!'

Even as Paul's eyes widened in shock, Corareef flung itself forward, glowing in a bright blue and white light and crashed directly into Weavile. And slowly Weavile trailed along the ground, leaving a large track in the ground. There was a long pause before Brock gave his cause.

'Weavile is unable to battle; the match goes to Misty and her Corareef.'

Paul looked frustrated, but Misty looked thrilled as she danced around, hugging her Corareef despite the spines. Ash grinned, it was moments like this he couldn't believe how much he'd missed Misty. The audience was cheering loudly, even Dawn was clapping for Misty, and he could see the smirk rising on Nixie's face.

Paul seeming to realise he had some sort of social obligation to fulfill; he walked forward and offered his hand to Misty, 'You did well.'

'And?' she asked smirking.

'You aren't a pushover, but beating me was still a fluke,' he said.

Misty rolled her eyes, and begrudgingly shook his hand, 'Sure, we can challenge that later. And if you'll excuse me, it's been about an hour since Ash has eaten, so he's going to be hungry again.'

Paul smirked at the comment as Misty walked away, back to her cheering audience, before looking for Aura in the crowd. She'd already disappeared; he could tell anything involving noise was irritating to her. But he couldn't help but notice "Nixie" standing in the crowd talking to Misty. There was no such thing as family resemblance when it came to the Carinthia's, no wonder she had them all fooled. The Carinthia's were famous for their mind games. And this Carinthia was famous for her temper.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

'Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Phone call! Phone call!'

Gary pulled himself upwards tiredly, pushing back his bed hair from where he'd fallen asleep on the couch watching TV last night, and walked over to the phone which was repeating its increasingly annoying ring tone at an increasingly higher volume. He slouched over to the phone and set it for a voice only call before picking up the phone.

'Oak Laboratory,' he grumbled.

'Gary? Is that you?' said an all too familiar voice.

Instantly Gary pressed the video call button and Ash's face flickered up on the screen, 'Sure is Ash, how are the Eclipse Islands?'

'They're great, I already won my Tyche badge,' he said proudly, holding up the case of badges where the silver star glistened proudly.

'That's great Ash, now would you mind telling me why you called here at such an ungodly hour?' he asked.

'Well I figured you'd want to see an Eclipse Island exclusive Pokémon, but if you'd rather go back to sleep-'

'Grandpa!' Gary yelled loudly over his shoulder, 'What Pokémon is it.'

'Come show 'em Misty,' Ash laughed.

'Gary, why did you wake me up so early?' Professor Oak asked as he came into the room looking tired.

'I guess it is a little early,' Ash laughed.

'Of course it is, Nixie has had us up early on purpose,' Misty said as she came into view of the screen, 'We are climbing a mountain today.'

'And to annoy us,' Ash pointed out.

'Ah, Ash, to what do I owe the pleasure? Have you changed your mind about the Pokémon you are using today?' Professor Oak asked.

'No Professor, but Misty's Corsola evolved last night,' Ash said cheerfully.

'Corsola don't evolve,' Gary said flatly, making it clear that he was far from a morning person.

'Oh really?' Misty asked, 'Then how do you explain my Corareef?'

The aquamarine Pokémon floated into view squeaking loudly, 'Cora!'

Gary's mouth fell wide open in shock upon seeing the Pokémon, while Professor Oak's face lit up like a five year old, 'Amazing.'

'How…?' Gary began.

'No idea,' Misty laughed, 'I was in a battle last night when Corsola got hit by an ice beam, I look up and its floating in mid-air, completely frozen, and then not only did it unfreeze itself, it evolved into this little cutie right here.'

'I knew that the Carinthia's were getting some strange results from their breeding program, but I never knew that they were getting brand new Pokémon,' Gary said looking stunned.

'It's not too different from a Magneton evolving into a Magnezone in Chargestone Cave,' Professor Oak explained, 'Some Pokémon are meeting new conditions while in the Eclipse Islands that can't be experienced anywhere else. The Pokémon haven't been officially confirmed and are far from being properly understood but they exist none the less. And it makes them all the more fascinating.'

'Have you heard about any other types of Eclipse Island Pokémon?' Gary asked looking extremely intrigued.

'I think Brock said something about a Dragonair evolution,' Ash said.

'And May and Dawn were babbling about a Jinx evolution yesterday,' Misty said.

'Ash, Misty, time to move out!' yelled a voice from someone off screen.

'Coming Nixie!' Misty yelled, before smiling at Gary and the Professor, 'Nice to talk to you two again.'

'Talk to you soon,' Ash said.

'Goodbye,' Professor Oak and Gary said in sync and the connection ended.

Gary sat down, pushing back his fringe from his face again before he said after a long moment, 'Grandpa?'

'You're going to the Eclipse Islands aren't you?' Professor Oak laughed far from surprised.

'Am I really that predictable Gramps?'

'Of course you are, I have your stuff packed upstairs.'

…

'How much longer do we have to climb up here?'

'We've only been going for an hour,' Nixie said pulling May up to the top of a particularly steep ledge, before continuing to leap up the rest like a mountain goat.

'_Only_ an hour?' Drew asked.

'If you and your girlfriend took less time complaining and spent more time climbing then we could be there by now,' Nixie said shortly, 'At the rate we're going it'll still be another half hour.'

'Half an hour?' Dawn asked, not seeming particularly tired, just not in the mood for a longer climb.

'More like ten minutes, but I was hoping it would shut the three of you whiney coordinators up,' Nixie commented, rising laughter from the rest of the group, 'So what Pokémon have you got for the match today?'

'Well, I've got Pikachu of course,' Ash laughed, higher than most of the others up the mountain, 'then I've Sceptile, Corphish, Muk and Donphan.'

'Ah Ash, that's only five,' Max pointed out, pushing May to make her go faster.

'Oh I'm aware, I'm just waiting for my sixth to arrive, Liza is bringing Charizard over, and they should be here soon- ah!'

Ash was suddenly pulled into the sky by a set of claws, and he couldn't help but laugh, as he realized it was Charizard, but he was hit with a feeling of anticipation as he remembered Charizard's usual method of greeting him. And as he thought of this he felt himself hitting the ground before suddenly getting a flamethrower straight to the face. And just as he started feeling the pain spread through him, he found himself pinned under Charizard, laughing like mad as Charizard started licking his face.

'Cut it out Charizard! Cut it out!' he laughed uproariously.

He eventually was allowed to stand up by the large fire breathing dragon, who he could have sworn had grown a foot and weighed half a tone more since the last time he'd seen him. He smiled at his old friend, possibly the most powerful among his Pokémon and one of the most fiercely loyal, well after it got past it's disobedient stage, which may have over six months, but hey, who was counting. The flame on the end of its tail was bigger and more powerful then he'd ever seen, and its scales glistened with obvious good health.

'Charizard, how are you buddy?' he said cheerfully, beaming up at the dragon-like Pokémon.

'Hey Ash,' Came another voice and he turned around to see Liza standing not too far away, her own Charizard Charla standing with her.

'Liza, Charla, how's Charizard been lately? Not causing too much trouble I hope,' he laughed.

'Oh of course not, Charizard has been training day in day out constantly, I'd say he's probably one of the strongest Charizard's in the valley, I don't know if he's got too much left to learn by staying with us for much longer,' Liza said, strolling forward, her tall, spiky hair blowing out behind her.

'Good to hear, unstoppable aren't you buddy?' he asked fondly.

Charizard growled in affirmation, as Brock came over the ledge, and his eyes lit up as his gaze settled on Liza, 'Hi Brock,' she said cheerfully.

'Ah! Liza! The most radiant of Charizard Trainer's the world has ever seen! Strong, gorgeous and courageous-'

'One more word out of you and I push you off the ever so convenient cliff,' Nixie said jumping up beside him, and as she did so, Brock was suddenly yanked hard on the ear by Misty who was glaring at him as she clambered over the edge.

'Hi Liza,' Misty said, 'Charla, Charizard.'

Her enthusiasm when she saw Charizard was very pronounced, but Liza vaguely waved before she looked at Nixie, 'haven't I seen you somewhere before?'

Nixie shook her head, 'I don't get out much, I honestly doubt it. I'm Nixie.'

'Liza, I'm the guardian of the Charasific Valley, ever heard of it?'

'Not really, but the name is pretty self-explanatory,' Nixie shrugged, before turning to look down the cliff and said, 'Oh come on you lot!'

She pulled Max up the rest of the way, and turned back before saying, finger outstretched towards the horizon, 'The gym, is just on top of that peak up there, this time there are stairs though.'

'It looks like a chapel from here,' Liza laughed.

'_Chapel!' _Brock began but Misty grabbed him by the ear before he could get anything else out.

'One more word out of you and you are going to have a very horrendous interaction with a boulder.'

Drew was the next over the side of the cliff and he said, 'you lot do this all the time?'

'Pretty much,' May huffed, 'But it's been two years since I had to go over a mountain.'

Dawn came up, looking completely calm, cool and in the zone, 'If you two weren't in such a race with each other on the way up here and trying to surpass each other constantly, then you wouldn't be so tired.'

She leapt up and pulled May up onto the top, with a little encouraging smile, Piplup leaping off the top of her head where the little penguin had been riding on the way up, before she noticed Liza and saying, 'Hi, I'm Dawn, I've heard quite a bit about you, oh and I don't think you've met May, Max and Drew?'

'No I haven't, it's nice to meet you all,' she said, 'But I've got to get back to the valley, it was a long enough trip over here, as much as I'd love to stick around and see you battle a Carinthia. I've got to get going, but Ash, you can send Charizard back over when you're done with the battle.'

'Sure thing Liza,' Ash laughed.

Misty, knowing that Brock would try, grabbed his ear before he could say anything, 'Bye Liza.'

Brock waved almost tearfully, realising he wouldn't have any more time to try to convince Liza to go out with him, like usual, but even as Charla's immense shape disappeared into the distance, Nixie turned to Brock quirking an eyebrow, 'You have no shame at all do you?'

'Of course he doesn't,' Misty said letting him go, 'Even worse he never learns.'

'Have you ever considered what Brock would be like in a relationship?' Drew suddenly asked, 'I mean really, no guy can float on air for that long.'

'What do you mean?-' Brock began but Dawn cut him off.

'Very few girls want a boy that clingy and even fewer can put up with it for a long period of time without feeling like they're being suffocated.'

'And even if they can, when Brock finally calms down, and gets used to having her around, he'll stop doing it, and then it won't be the same.'

'Doesn't anyone believe in love at first sight anymore!?' Brock yelled to shut them all up.

No one really seemed to be giving him the answer he was hoping for but it surprised them all when Nixie said, 'Yes, of course I do, every person on this Earth no matter what always knows right from the beginning who the one person they're destined to be with is. Most of the time they don't notice, don't want it to happen or don't understand the feeling, but it's always there whether they want it to be or not. They just know. _You_ on the other hand Brock, are another story, because what you are feeling isn't real love, it's clearly not because you fall in love with a new girl every twenty minutes.'

Nixie was glaring at Brock, but everyone else was staring at her open mouthed and then when Nixie returned their weirded out looks, May asked still looking thoroughly surprised, 'You're a romantic?'

'Oh come on, just because I'm realistic, doesn't mean I can't be romantic,' Nixie huffed, 'And can we just cut this crap and get to the gym, I need to wash the mushy nonsense I just blurted, out of my mouth with some Pokémon battling.'

She made a small disgusted noise like someone had shoved a gym sock down the back of her shirt, and kept moving, walking up the final curling slope towards the Pokémon gym. And Ash, forgetting all else looked at his Pokémon, a grin of a four year old splitting across his face.

'Pikachu, Charizard, you ready to win this battle?' he asked enthusiastically.

Charizard's flame split from it's mouth in a mix between an enormous agreement and a battle cry, as Pikachu leapt skywards, from Ash's head, chirping as loudly as possible, 'Pi-pikachu!'

...

'I'm pretty sure the Eclipse Island's win the award for the most gorgeous gyms,' May sighed, staring up at the high pillars of the ceiling as she walked along the corridor, a small smile flitting across her face.

'All of the gyms are inspired by the Ancient races that lived long before humans and Pokémon lived in harmony, like the people of Pokéopolus,' Drew commented, and even as everyone stared at him he shrugged contemptuously, refusing to give up how he knew this.

'That and the Carinthia's battling can get brutal so it's good to have something lying around that's not going to start rotting away,' Nixie said rolling her eyes before calling out, 'Aura!'

'You ready for this Ash?' Max asked excitedly.

'Well, if not, I'm working on it,' Ash offered.

But even as they kept walking down the corridor, the large group fizzing with a mix of excitement and nerves, well for Ash's sake anyway. They found themselves walking through a huge set of double doors that led them two a large battlefield, splintered with rocks, but everything coloured with the same bright white the coloured the rest of the gym. And that was when they heard a soft, voice ring out through the darkness, in a strange rippling melody that didn't seem even possible to exist even while saying such simple words.

'Welcome challenger.'


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

The girl that stood before them looked at them with soft grey eyes, seeming to pierce into their souls, not seeming to know what to make of them, like she was trying to make sure they weren't here to hurt her. Her hair was long and wavy with a strange silver colouring, floating on the breeze, falling into her eyes to hide her from view. She was barely older than Tien in size and appearance, probably only being at the most fourteen, but there was something in her eyes that gave her the look of shattered innocence, a world-weary, soul searching calm that was off-putting and chilling. She was dressed in a small grey jumpsuit, short sleeved, and short legged; a pale, blue band was around her waist. There was a pale blue, cape-like piece of material that was her only protection from the cold, and on her feet were a pair of sandals with a silver gem at the toe.

'I am Aura Carinthia, leader of this gym, the flying type master of the Carinthia family and the barer of the Aeolus Badge,' she said her voice soft and musical, seeming to carry on the wind and vibrate through the room at the same time, 'Who among you is my challenger?'

Ash stepped forward, Pikachu still balanced on his shoulder, and Charizard trying to stare her down but it was clear that something about Aura was unnerving all of them. Nixie, seeming to take a bit of a lead, pointed to a few small benches near the door for the rest of them to watch, before silently moving to the judge's podium.

'I am Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town,' Ash said trying to sound impressive but the way that Aura continued to look straight through him was clearly putting him off.

Misty gripped his hand slightly before whispering, 'Don't let her throw you off Ash, this is just like any other gym battle,' before she went and sat with the others, all of which were looking uncomfortable because of the strange chill to the air Aura seemed to bring.

'This battle between Aura, the gym leader, and Ash the challenger is about to begin. This will be a six on six battle, either trainer may substitute their Pokémon at any time, no time limits. When three of either trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle, then there shall be a short break. Are trainer's ready to begin?'

'Yes,' Ash said, gulping slightly.

Aura just nodded stiffly, her grey eyes cold and dismissive, and the moment Nixie said, 'Begin!' Aura didn't even hesitate in her choice.

'Togekiss,' she said softly, simply pressing the button on the Pokéball rather than throwing it like most trainers would have.

The winged, egg-shaped Pokémon appeared in the air, bathed in white light for mere moments before it fully materialized. There was three spiked crest on its head and its body was coated along the bottom with red and blue triangles. Its entire form covered in fluffy white feathers.

Ash thought for a moment before calling out, 'Donphan! I choose you!'

Donphan rolled onto the battle field, trumpeting loudly, looking excited, but Aura simply looked bored as she observed the pale grey elephant like Pokémon, and she gave her call very quickly, 'Togekiss use Signal Beam,' she spoke tonelessly.

In front of the three spikes on Togekiss's head three orbs of light appeared in pink, light blue and yellow, and as it reared its head back, a spectacular beam of the three colours swirled together.

'Donphan, dodge it and go into Rollout!'

The beam missed by a split second as Donphan leapt up, before it rolled into a ball and went charging towards Togekiss, but once again Aura simply looked bored, 'Use Shadow Ball to knock it back Togekiss.'

A ball of black and purple light swirled together, and in the most powerful Shadow Ball attack Ash had ever seen, knocked Donphan backwards despite the extreme speed of the roll out attack, forced it to roll back in the other way. It smashed into a rock that was behind it that didn't break on impact, causing Donphan to land flat on its belly on the ground, looking pained. Ash looked alarmed but only for a split second because he instantly focused again before yelling out to Donphan;

'Come on Donphan, you can shake it off, go into that new attack you worked so hard on! Use Ice Shard!'

Donphan's trunk glowed bright blue and blocks of ice formed in front of its nose before suddenly in a wind of snow a chunks of ice flew out but despite the fact that a ground type knew an ice move, Aura looked completely bored before calling out, 'Togekiss, use Rain Dance.'

A bright blue light formed between Togekiss's wings as it flew a little higher, before with a tremendous, 'Toge!' it launched the light into the air and very soon rain started thundering down.

Ash was instantly confused, he couldn't figure out what Aura was up to. She wouldn't have just done it randomly, she was a Carinthia, Ash knew enough from Nixie's stories that there was always a purpose behind what they did, unless they were messing with them. But he couldn't remember what Rain Dance was supposed to do, he really hadn't seen it used for anything else than putting out fires. Donphan was weak against water, but rain was not enough to dissuade it for battling. What was she aiming at?

He knew one thing was for sure, she was up to something, and if he was going to be smart he should attack, 'Donphan! Ice Shard! One more time!'

Even as the ice ball flew through the air, Aura looked like she completely expected it before she commented, 'How predictable, use Thunder Wave into Psychic.'

As the bright blue electricity collided with the ice shard attack, breaking it without effort, but almost instantly the fragmented pieces of ice were held in the air glowing with psychic energy. They were sharpened into spikes almost instantly before water from the rain surrounded it and sealed it in a capsule, before Aura smirked and calmly called a single word which made Ash's heart stop.

'Fire!'

Ice and water, two of a grounds type most supreme weaknesses had been combined, and backed by psychic energy it pounded into Donphan. Ash yelled out in concern, but there was nothing he could do, and as water vapour clouded his vision.

'… Donphan?... Donphan!'

'Donphan is unable to battle; this round goes to Aura and her Togekiss.'

Nixie's call set a shock through his system, especially when he saw how bored and uninterested Aura appeared. The look of complete superiority, like nothing he'd done had been a surprise, like nothing he could do would surpass her. And as she withdrew Togekiss emotionlessly and sent out a Honchkrow, she gave him a look through the still falling rain of, "Do whatever you want, you think you have a chance?"  
And Ash wasn't sure how much he could do that would have the slightest dent in Aura's all-knowing style.

* * *

Hello all my lovely readers;

I, Princess Selina, made a pledge to update all my individual stories today, and I managed to complete my task. All four fanfictions have been updated, and if you like my writing style, if you like how I tell my stories, then go check out;

The Phoenix

Eclipsed By Fate

Guardian of the Evening Star

Or in other news, see my original story (co-authored with Allison Shorecoat) and my brand new obsession, **_Zero Hour_**, look us up as "Knowing What Fuzzy Means" on Fictionpress, Readwave and NovelJoy, as well as under "Fuzzywuzzywoo," on Wattpad. Whichever site is to your taste, go check it out.

Lots of love

Please do review

Princess Selina


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen:**

Honchkrow squawked loudly fanning its wings dramatically, staring Ash down from underneath the brim of its fedora like plumage. He could hear Charizard growling very quietly behind him, clearly wanting to fight already, but Ash shushed the fire dragon gently, he couldn't use Charizard so early. But that was when he decided that he was going to go for someone just as gutsy, just as determined to not give in.

'Corphish! I choose you!' he called loudly.

'Phish!' the crab Pokémon yelled loudly and proudly, snapping its claws.

'Corphish!' Max chirped excitedly.

'Now that is one spunky looking water-type,' Misty said, a slight grin coming over her expression, 'It looks pretty powerful.'

'Corphish is about the most stubborn water-type I've seen,' Max grinned.

'You should see my Gyarados in the morning,' Misty whispered making Max laugh slightly.

'Trainers, begin,' Nixie called loudly.

'Honchkrow,' Aura sighed loudly, 'use Icy Wind.'

Taking to the sky Honchkrow spun in the air, with a gigantic flap of its wings a sudden burst of freezing air sped through the air. It caught extra power from the rain that joined the blizzardy blast, and sped towards Corphish.

'Corphish Harden!' Ash called.

Corphish's orange shell shone with crystal clear light, and Corphish managed to take the blow without being knocked back, although it was clear it still had done some damage. Aura still however looked if anything, unconcerned by the attack's not overly effective hit, she just went straight on with calling her next attack.

'Honchkrow, use Superpower,' she said completely calmly.

Honchkrow flew forward, surrounded by an aura of dark blue light, swooping towards Corphish. Ash knew he had to do something, especially with Superpower being one of the most powerful fighting-type moves there were, he couldn't risk Corphish taking the hit.

'Use your bubblebeam and move positions Corphish!' Ash called loudly.

Corphish flexed its claws before the bubblebeam erupted from them, spinning as it did to make a humongous cloud of bubbles, running straight into the depths of them. As a water-type, plus it being its own attack, it would do very little damage to Corphish, but Honchkrow wasn't so lucky. The dark-type had been flying too fast to avoid flying straight into the bubblebeam attack. And as it soared back out, it looked somewhat damaged, but once again, Aura looked completely serene and calm.

'Clever. Using a water attack in this weather only makes it stronger, but if this is your attempt to play hide and seek with me it's not going to work. Honchkrow, blow the bubblebeam away!'

With a flap of its incredibly large wings, the bubbles started moving away, but Ash wasn't quite done with it, yelling at the top of his lungs, 'Corphish, spin and use Crab Hammer!'

With both claws glowing Corphish appeared from the still idling bubbles, which seemed to merge with its spinning claws as Corphish spun through the air and collided directly with Honchkrow. Corphish landed shakily even as Honchkrow somehow managed to seem fine despite the combination of attacks striking at once.

Frowning to himself, Ash tried to think of what to do next, but Aura had already called her next move, 'Honchkrow, Thunder Wave.'

Ash almost swore as Honchkrow flapped its wings speedily and a sudden burst of blue white light sparked from its dark form. But much to Ash's intense annoyance, Corphish was struck by the electric attack, causing the Ruffian Pokémon to spark and clearly become paralysed.

Ash gritted his teeth, but he knew he couldn't withdraw Corphish quite yet, 'Corphish, hold it together, and use Vice Grip!'

Corphish looked extremely determined as it bounced in the air and tried to latch onto Honchkrow, but the flying Pokémon was too fast, dodging out of the way with a snap of her fingers. But that was when Ash remembered something Aura had said, that water-type attacks were strengthened in rain, which lead him on a tangent of thinking which made him remember what else happened in rain storms.

'Corphish return!' he called loudly, in a jolt of red light, Corphish returned to its Pokéball, 'Pikachu, go.'

Pikachu ran onto the field filled with determination, seeming to have already guessed what Ash was up to, but Aura just sighed filled with boredom, 'Can you get any more predictable? Don't you think I have precautions against electric types?'

'I know, but that doesn't matter,' Ash said simply, surprising himself with how calm he sounded.

'Oh really, and why is that?'

'Because Thunder doesn't miss when it's raining,' he replied simply, making Aura's eyes widen in shock, 'Pikachu, Thunder attack!'

'Pika… chu!'

Pikachu's entire form was set a glow by the full force electric attack that illuminated the entire field as it struck the rain clouds above them and rained down jolt after jolt of lighting until one struck the flapping and squawking Honchkrow. Honchkrow landed on the ground unsteadily, but Aura wasn't done, because even as Honchkrow was on the verge of losing all its energy, Aura looked determined as she gave one final call.

'If they're going to take you out, don't make it easy! Honchkrow use Hyper Beam!'

Ash's eyes widened but he was too late to do anything as the eruption of blinding orange light tore from Honchkrow's mouth. Colliding with Pikachu, the attack sent the electric mouse flying and staggering, on the verge of unconsciousness as Honchkrow itself finally fainted, unable to keep standing after such a brutally high powered attack.

'Honchkrow is unable to battle, Ash's Pikachu is the winner of this round,' Nixie called loudly as Ash hastily ran back onto the field to scoop Pikachu into his arms.

'Hey buddy, you okay?' he asked, not even noticing the rain melting away from above his head.

'Pika, Pikachu,' it said gently.

'Good, now let's get you some rest, we're going to need you later,' he laughed walking back off the field and handing Pikachu to Brock before turning back to face the field.

Aura was standing immovably on the other end, having already withdrawn Honchkrow she was waiting for Ash's move. It was almost as if to her this was a game of chess, and he'd finally made an unexpected move, so she was leaving it up to him to choose his next Pokémon before her.

Biting his lip, considering this situation he thought about what he had. A fainted Donphan, a paralysed Corphish and an exhausted Pikachu. This left him with ever so ready and raring to go Charizard, on top, plus his Sceptile which last time he'd used it had taken out a Darkrai. And… someone he hadn't really used since Johto… but somehow he felt like it was the right decision to make.

'Muk, I choose you!' he yelled loudly.

The purple grime Pokémon materialised onto the field, and Aura looked slightly disgusted as she caught the scent of the Pokémon. Shivering slightly she made a point of making her call regardless of her clear dislike of Muk.

'Xatu, if you please,' she breathed calmly.

The strange green bird appeared on the floor of the battlefield, looking at Muk sideways. This was the first time he'd actually seen a Carinthia make a choice for type advantages sake, although then again, Tien wouldn't have been able to do that, but even so, from what he'd been told, this was unusual.

Very quietly he heard Aura whisper Future Sight, which if it hadn't been that he was observing her very carefully, he would have missed entirely. He knew what was coming, which meant he was working on a very limited timeline, which may not be the best thing when when working with Muk, it wasn't exactly the fastest of all Pokémon. That and the fact he hadn't really used Muk in a very long time, this wasn't working in his favour.

He pulled out his Pokédex, to remind himself of what moves Muk knew, but he was surprised when he looked at the list, to find the move set far larger than he remembered. He couldn't believe some of the things that Muk had picked up in the time he'd been left at Professor Oak's lab.

'Okay Muk, you got this,' he grinned.

Aura's brow furrowed at Ash's new found confidence, both so intent on staring each other down, waiting for the other to make a move, that they didn't notice someone slip in. Paul had entered the room, and sat down on the bench next to Dawn who'd been sitting on the end.

'So what did I miss?'

Dawn nearly jumped out of her skin as Paul appeared beside her, glaring at him as she hissed, 'What are you doing here?'

'I wanted to see how Ash has improved since he beat me in the Sinnoh League,' he shrugged, 'How's he doing?'

Dawn felt slightly weird but explained to him hastily in undertone, 'Her Togekiss knocked out his Donphan, and her Honchkrow paralysed his Corphish, but he managed to take it out with Pikachu.'

'And now he's using Muk?' he questioned, 'I thought he hadn't used it in years.'

'He changed his mind I guess, I think he's making a point of bringing back Pokémon he hasn't used for a while,' Dawn shrugged, not sure why she needed to justify it to Paul who was one of the most unpredictable trainers she'd met.

Paul shrugged it off, and turned his eyes back to the battle, just in time to see Aura decide to make the first move, 'Xatu, use Mist.'

'Shit…' Paul muttered as the mist clouded over the field.

'There's a ten year old here, mute the volume,' Dawn hissed at him angrily, '…Why?'

'Aura did this with me as well; she makes up for Xatu's lack of manoeuvrability by getting rid of the vision on the field. She fires long range attacks from the cloud while she tests the challengers ability to adapt, you can't get rid of it without a flying type Pokémon and I doubt Muk can adapt to it.'

'You're underestimating Ash,' Dawn said testily.

But Paul just looked at her, an ever familiar grim look on his face, 'No I'm not. I just know that the Carinthia's are about as far as you can get from pushovers.'

Dawn bit her lip hesitantly, she didn't want to agree with Paul, but she knew he had a point, she'd never seen Muk fight. And he was right when he said it had been a long time since Ash had used Muk in a fight, and even then it had mostly only participated in league battles. Ash himself probably didn't even know the potential of the Pokémon which sat before him.

* * *

**Guess whose finally back? **

**Sorry for taking so long to update, a lot has been going on, with starting Year 11, my own original story getting very interesting, plus having to juggle five fanfictions, and how hard I found it to write battle scenes, this got put on the back burner for a while, but its back and I'm inspired to write more. So here's a question I have for you readers, which of Ash's Pokémon do you think needs to evolve? I can't be the only one whose noticed that some of them seem to just go through the series without even questioning it. So what do you think, are there any of Ash's Pokémon that just needs to evolve already?  
**

**See you guys soon, I promise!**

**~Selina**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty:**

Ash stared down the cloud of mist that floated in the air, obscuring Aura and her Xatu completely from view. Looking down at Muk who was ready and raring to go, he knew he had to do something Future Sight could strike at any time, and he had to get moving.

'Muk, use Sludge Wave!' he called loudly.

He wasn't sure if it was going to work admittedly, he was just trying to get rid of the mist but as Muk suddenly expelled the tremendous amount of of glowing, toxic liquid, it struck the cloud of mist. Ash was hoping for some sort of peak at what was happening to Xatu, but even as the wave struck, the mist didn't clear and he couldn't see either Xatu or Aura for a second.

But that was when out of nowhere Xatu reappeared and slammed into Muk before disappearing again. Muk looked around wildly, trying to see where it had come from but even Ash didn't know the answer.

'Muk use-'

But once again Xatu reappeared, slamming into Muk before once disappearing into thin air, Ash knew this wasn't the same as it teleporting, but before he could react an immense Shadow Ball came flying out of the mist and due to Ash's distraction, struck Muk hard. The grime Pokémon was hit hard, it's naturally high defence still taking a hit as the ball of black and purple light slammed into it. Scorched along the side from the intensity of the shadow ball, Ash was desperately trying to think of something to do, but Xatu reappeared again and slammed straight into the burnt patch.

Much against his will Ash cried out in alarm before calling out, 'Muk, you can do this, use Shadow Punch!'

Muk forced itself to draw back its arms, as ghostly fists started to tear towards the cloud with intense speed and power. But he was still not sure if it hit anything in the haze that Xatu was currently residing in.

He bit his lip to stop himself crying out again, trying to think of something else, but that was when he heard Nixie casually comment, clearly to Aura, 'You know, I'm starting to wonder why moves like Wish and Recover are even allowed, their cheap tricks in my opinion.'

He was unable to hear Aura's response, but he knew all too well that Nixie had meant for him to hear it. And that's when he realised his attacks had been hitting, but Xatu could learn Wish. His attacks had hit and Xatu just kept restoring its energy, which was why it had the strength to attack so often.

Xatu once again slammed straight into Muk's side, and he heard May call out to him, 'Ash do something already!'

But he was stumped, this was possibly the most ingenious battle strategy he'd seen, disappear from sight with Mist, strike with long range attacks and heal itself with Wish whenever it chose. How was he supposed to stop this combination, it was almost perfect. He still didn't even know how Xatu kept attacking like it did.

But that was when Future Sight struck and Ash couldn't help but be shocked as the sheer force of the rainbow light struck Muk. It was a mere miracle that Muk had survived such a powerful and effective attack with all the damage it had already taken. And Ash knew he had to do something quickly, but that was when he remembered something. Even with Mist in play, the attacks were still hitting.

'Muk, can you still fight?' he asked, desperate to hear that it was.

Muk roared slightly, clearly not wanting to go down that easily and Ash breathed a silent sigh of relief as he began his instructions, 'Great, now use Sludge Bomb!'

From Muk's gaping mouth toxic waste became shooting out like bullets striking all over the cloud of mist, and Ash was praying that some of them were hitting, 'Great, now use your Sludge Wave attack!'

Muk obliged, the incredible purple liquid once again sloshing across the field to strike the cloud. Ash knew he had to be doing something, and this new burst of confidence made him realise what Xatu had been doing before, Faint Attack, and he suddenly got a feeling it was going to happen again.

'Muk, Ice Punch to your right... now!'

As Xatu appeared out of nowhere it was suddenly struck by Muk's Ice Punch, interrupting the attack and smacking a super effective hit in one go. Ash was grinning like crazy, knowing it wasn't over but now sure that he was gaining some ground.

Xatu was unable to return to the cloud of mist, and Ash realised he'd done something even greater inadvertently, Aura couldn't see Xatu now, 'While you've got it there use ice punch again!' Ash called.

Muk's slimy purple fist glowed blue and struck Xatu again and again, each blow striking hard, Ash grinning to himself realising he had this, even as he vaguely heard the call from Aura of, 'Heat Wave!'

Xatu started glowing red, but it was too late for it as Ash gave his final call, 'Muk Thunder Punch!'

Glowing with electricity, Muk made contact and in one final blow Xatu finally fell, jolting slightly from electricity as it lay fainted on the battlefield. Nixie looked on for a moment, before nodding and almost seeming to give an approving look to ash before making her call.

'Xatu is unable to battle; Ash's Muk is the winner.'

Aura stepped forward from the mist, looking far from pleased as she walked to the edge of the cloud and withdrew her Pokémon. It was the first time she was displaying any real emotion, even if the look was displeasure, it was enough to let Ash know that he'd shaken her slightly.

'Aura, if you'll select your next Pokémon,' Nixie said calmly.

'I shall,' she said stepping back off the field within her swirl of mist.

Even as Ash was unable to see her choice, out of nowhere, hurtling from the mist completely ridding the battlefield of the cloud in one sweep came an Aerodactyl. Ash's heart almost stopped, he remembered what happened the first time he met an Aerodactyl, it hadn't gone well. In fact, every time he'd confronted and Aerodactyl it hadn't gone well. It was simple math, Ash vs. Aerodactyl equals Ash gets hurt pretty badly.

Muk was weakened, and Ash knew that it was not a good idea to face this monster like creature with anything less than a full powered Pokémon. So moving his hand to the Pokéballs on his hip, he withdrew Muk, smiling at the Pokéball in satisfaction.

'Thanks buddy, you did a really good job, and don't worry, you'll get your chance to fight again, save your strength for now. Trust me, we'll need it if she sends out the Tornadus,' he then turned to Charizard who was growling slightly, seeming to recognise that it was his turn, 'Charizard, you evolved to be able to fight an Aerodactyl, I think this should be your fight.'

Charizard roared loudly, pumping itself up as it moved onto the field, it looked raring to go and totally ready even as the Aerodactyl circled above like a bird of prey. This wasn't going to be an easy battle, but with Charizard, Ash was sure that he could do it.

Taking in a deep breath, he went through what he knew about Aerodactyl, they were hunters, carnivorous and ancient. Rock flying types so fire type attacks wouldn't be the most effective things on the planet, and neither would fighting type attacks, but due to its type combination it wasn't horrible. Part of him started to wish now he'd brought Glalie like he'd originally planned, but after what Muk had done today he knew he'd made a good choice. But Charizard still had access to its flying, steel, normal and dragon type moves which he had a definite feeling was going to come in handy today. The large move set was undoubtabley something that made Charizard even more powerful.

'Aerodactyl, use Iron Head!'

There was a loud cry at Aerodactyl swooped out of the sky glowing bright whitish silver tearing towards Charizard, but Ash quickly made his move calling out, 'Use Dragon Breath to deflect it and take to the sky!'

Charizard expelled a sudden burst of yellowish-green air that struck Aerodactyl, slowing it down just enough for it to take to the sky. However Aura just snapped her fingers and barely an inch from the ground, Aerodactyl pulled back into the air rather than crashing into the field like Ash had intended. But instead of just taking back to the air like he had expected, Aerodactyl disappeared for a second before slamming into Charizard.

'Aerial Ace...' Ash whispered to himself.

At a snap of her fingers, Aerodactyl had changed moves, and all Ash could think was how well trained it must be. And how hard it must have been to train a prehistoric Pokémon like that. But Charizard had been trained in the Charasific Valley; it wasn't going to be easy to take out.

'Slash Charizard,' Ash called loudly.

Aura just made a slight whistling sound and even as Charizard approached Aerodactyl, it suddenly barrel rolled through the air. Corkscrewing out of the way and back flipping till it was above Charizard. Charizard growled in confusion flipping over to face its opponent but Aura gave another command.

'Thunder Fang.'

Spiralling down, electricity spitting out of its mouth, it was coming towards Charizard with astonishing speed, 'Charizard dodge!' he yelled.

Charizard still flying oddly to keep its eyes on Aerodactyl plunged down, trying to avoid the snarling beast. But Aerodactyl was faster and its electrified fangs latched onto Charizard's wing. Charizard roared in pain, falling fast to the ground.

'Steel Wing into the ground!' Ash called, hoping it would work the way he intended.

Charizard's wings began to glow, and although it didn't shake Aerodactyl off the moment Charizard's other wing struck the ground all of the electricity began draining out of Charizard's system into the ground.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief as his manoeuvre worked, but Aura looked amused, like she'd almost been expecting it, 'Release into an Earthquake Aerodactyl.'

Ash's mouth fell wide open, as Aerodactyl released Charizard's wing and began to pummel the ground with its claws and even as Charizard tried to pull its wing out of the ground, it was too late to avoid the seismic waves. Charizard took a serious hit, flying types may have been theoretically immune to ground type moves, but that was only in theory. A master of flying types like Aura knew that if you had them stuck on the ground they were just as vulnerable as any other Pokémon, and with Charizard's fire typing, it only made it worse.

Charizard pulled itself out of the ground, already looking tired despite Aerodactyl's complete lack of strain, 'Dragon Breath Aerodactyl,' Aura commanded.

'Counter it with Overheat!' Ash yelled hastily.

The roaring fire attack, at its fullest strength collided with the dragon move beating it back and scorching Aerodactyl, sending it back flying, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief that one of his manoeuvres had actually worked. But he knew Aura was far from defeated, their match wasn't even half over.

'Keep it up Charizard!' Ash called, hoping to make use of Overheat for as long as possible before a second draw made it less powerful.

'Stone Edge.'

Aura's command instantly registered with Aerodactyl who suddenly beat back the attack in a flurry of rocks, which although didn't hit Charizard, still stopped the attack, 'Giga Impact.'

The yellow orange light glowed around Aerodactyl as it spiralled towards Charizard, soon joined by the pale purple that formed the rest of the attack, 'Charizard, hit it away with Dragon Tail!'

Ash wasn't sure if it would work and even as Charizard's tail glowed blue and it swung into the attacking Aerodactyl, it cried in pain as it clearly had done nothing more than centralise its pain. Ash gritted his teeth, he'd definitely have to apologise to Charizard about this later, it had been a stupid idea.

'Use Stone Edge Aerodactyl,' Aura called, followed by two sharp claps.

The shattered rocks hung in the air, hurtling towards Charizard and Ash knew he had to move quickly, 'Wing Attack Charizard.'

Charizard blew the rocks away dextrously, but out of nowhere Aerodactyl slammed with a full power Aerial Ace into Charizard where it had been hidden by the incoming rocks. Charizard was knocked along the field, managing to stay on its feet, but Ash was just too many moves behind Aura who was playing it like some complex game of chess.

'Aerodactyl use Aqua Tail.'

Ash heard the command, and couldn't help but panic as he knew what the damage from the super effective attack would be, 'Dragon Tail Charizard!'

The two attacks collided causing a large bang and a flurry of smoke, blocking everything from view as both trainers braced themselves against the wind. But when the smoke cleared both Aura and Ash's mouths were hanging wide open as they stared at the result. Both Charizard and Aerodactyl were on the ground, eyes closed, limbs sprawled and bodies immobile. And there was a long pause as they realised what had happened.

'Both trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle, as our Gym Leader has lost three of her Pokémon there will be a quick break for both trainers to gather their thoughts and take a short break,' Nixie said officially, 'You have fifteen minutes before we resume.'

…

'Charizard's out? Who saw that coming?' Brock asked as he sat down with Ash in the small rest room.

'I definitely didn't, I wanted Charizard to stick around to help me with the Tornadus,' Ash said massaging his temples, the stress clearly showing.

Misty and Paul were the only others to come through, Brock had told them not to crowd him too much, especially with the stress he was going through. So the coordinators had remained outside with Max, leaving Ash with the more experienced battlers to give him advice. Paul hadn't really been supposed to come in, but he seemed like he actually wanted to be helpful for once.

'Stop freaking out Ash,' Misty said sitting down in front of him, 'The one thing you've always been good at is adapting, if you keep a cool head you can do this.'

'Ash, in case you've forgotten, you still have one full powered Pokémon left, and three others who are still fit to fight, Aura has three left and one of them already has had a pretty good fight against your Donphan. Plus she has no idea which one you haven't revealed yet, you can be almost positive in what she's going to pull out next,' Brock explained, trying to calm Ash down.

'What do you mean?' Ash asked confusedly.

'Use your head for once Ash, you can't do it all on your gut instinct,' Paul sighed, 'You've fought her Togekiss already, it's weakened and you have a good idea on its move pool already, Dawn has one, you know all about it already. You know she's going to use her Altaria, it's her partner Pokémon, her signature, and the Carinthia's are all too attached to their first Pokémon. Plus she's almost definitely going to use her Tornadus; she picked it up last night from the Pokémon centre so it's probably going to be in the fight. You know what's coming to you, now you've got to prepare yourself for it.'

'Okay, I'm starting to get the point,' Ash said, calming down slightly.

'And you don't have to be disappointed if she doesn't use her Tornadus because even though you have to adapt to her other Pokémon, it is definitely less of a problem than an actual legendary Pokémon,' Paul said casually.

'Looks like these three have got you sorted,' laughed a voice.

Ash looked up to see Nixie leaning against the doorway, and he nodded slightly, 'Any advice?'

'Sort of… Aura's annoyed with you, which is hard to do but you've done it,' Nixie said.

'And is that bad?' Ash asked.

'Yes and no, it means she's definitely using her Tornadus, but when she's frustrated it might not show but she might not make the best decisions, the person who wins is going to be the one who manages to stay calm,' Nixie explained.

'Anything else?' Ash asked.

'Yeah, just remember, you're probably one of the very few trainers who've come here that has had as much experience as you do with legendary Pokémon. Don't underestimate your own experience, remember, it may not be obvious but Aura's only fourteen. Don't discount anything that could give you an edge on her, that's what stops most trainers from becoming one of the greats.'

Nixie smiled slightly and left making all of them stare after her, and Brock couldn't help but comment, 'Nixie's a lot smarter than she usually lets on.'

'Yeah, but she definitely has a point, I've seen about every legendary Pokémon I can think of… and I've battled quite a few of them… I think I know how I'm going to win… I have an idea, but I just hope it's actually going to work.'

* * *

**Hello all;  
It's getting pretty intense for Ash's battle against Aura. What will happen when even his famously powerful Charizard has gone down facing her? Only time will tell.  
But to continue to give me ideas here's a few questions for all of you:**

**Which of Ash's Pokémon do you wish would evolve?  
Which Pokémon that don't evolve do you think should? (Like Corsola from my previous chapters)  
What Pokémon can you see Max catching?  
And most importantly, which Pokémon gym do you want to see Ash face next?**

**A big thank you to my reviewers:  
Lightningblade49, IhateMarySue'sSoooooMuch and Aussieking.  
Please follow their example and review in turn.**

**Thanks for reading:**

**~Selina**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One:**

'Is Ash ready for this?' May asked Misty as she sat back down, 'Maybe he should just forfeit for now and train some more.'

'Relax May,' Misty assured hastily, 'Ash's got this, he's calmed down, and he actually has a strategy for once. He can do this.'

Ash came up to his place on the field, much calmer than he had been before, but Aura seemed to have just a bit more expression on her face than before. Nixie took her place at the referee's platform, looking between both competitors, a deeply fascinated look on her face.

'Alright then, the battle shall resume when both trainers send out their Pokémon, Ash that'll be your honour,' she instructed.

Ash smiled comfortably before selecting a Pokéball from his hip and sending out in a single flourish, 'Corphish come back out.'

Corphish snapped its claws roughly; it had barely been back in its Pokéball for two minutes. Ash had it out before hand so it would know what to do on the field, so it would know what Ash had in mind. Plus it had been given a bit of Cheri Berry to alleviate some of the affects of the poison, which was perfectly legal within a break according to Pokémon League rules thankfully.

Corphish looked determined, clearly not having liked the idea of being almost taken out of the match by anything. Aura looked at Corphish once again, her eyes examining it closely and critically before she made her move.

'Togekiss return to the fight,' she said and the large triangular shaped creature reappeared before her.

Ash wasn't particularly surprised by this move, Aura knew that Honchkrow had almost beating Corphish before and there was nothing to suggest her almost fully recharged Togekiss couldn't do it, 'You ready for this Corphish?' he asked.

'Phish Cor Phish!' it chanted like some sort of battle cry.

Ash couldn't help but laugh, which clearly unnerved Aura who wasn't sure what had changed, but clearly didn't like it, 'Trainer's begin!'

At Nixie's call Ash gave his command very quickly, 'Bubble Beam Corphish!'

'Extreme Speed,' Aura commanded.

Togekiss dodged, rolling on its side out of the way of the Bubblebeam attack, and crashing straight into Corphish knocking it backwards. But even as Corphish recoiled it stayed on its feet, and fired Bubblebeam again at Togekiss before it got too far away. Togekiss was forced to barrel roll out of the way, still taking quite a bit of damage as many of the bubbles found their mark.

'Togekiss fly high and use Solarbeam,' Aura commanded effortlessly.

Togekiss flew skywards a ball of solar energy forming between its hands as it rose and Ash couldn't help but swear slightly. This hadn't been part of the plan, but he knew, if Corphish could either avoid or take the hit, Aura would do exactly what he wanted.

'Corphish do the deflect we talked about,' Ash hissed and Corphish nodded like it was a soldier in the army, it was determined to get the job done.

That was when Togekiss released the attack the white hot energy streaking towards Corphish. Even as Corphish used Harden however, it stuck out its claw and in a Vicegrip attack and much to Aura's shock the glowing claw split the Solar Beam attack off, so considerably less of the attack actually hit Corphish. Ash grinned as his method worked, but continued to keep a close eye on Corphish, knowing that it still had taken a hit that definitely would have hurt.

Aura's irritation was showing as Togekiss was forced to roll out of the way of another Bubblebeam attack. But Ash was in the zone, continuing to egg Corphish on as the water-type managed to land a few shots on Togekiss even as it danced and glided out of the way the best it could.

'Signal Beam Togekiss!' Aura called.

But once again Corphish deflected the multicoloured beam, even more effectively so this time with one Vicegripped claw before returning to firing at Togekiss with Bubblebeam. Switching easily back to Vicegrip as Aura had Togekiss fire several more Signal Beams, the lights glancing off Corphish's glowing claws.

Aura's attacks were being somehow ridden ineffective by Ash's tactics and she seemed to be almost twitching as she tried to keep her face calm, 'Togekiss it can't deflect everything, use Sky Attack!'

Ash seemed surprised by this but he didn't freak out unlike before, and as Togekiss hurtled towards Corphish, Ash gave a strange call, 'Aim your Bubblebeam at the ground!'

At Ash's command Corphish didn't hesitate, and the sudden power from its Bubblebeam sent it upwards, throwing it out of the range of Togekiss's attack, 'Will this thing just hold still!?' Aura suddenly exploded, clear irratance and anger pulsing out of her, 'Togekiss, Psychic!'

Corphish was suddenly hovering in the air, surrounded by psychic energy, but even as Aura breathed a sigh of relief, Ash's expression didn't change, 'Throw it into the pillars Togekiss,' Aura said, regaining her composure.

But Aura was ignorant to how the winds had change on her.

Because even as Corphish went hurtling through the air, this had been all too well what Ash had intended, 'Harden Corphish!' he yelled.

Midair, Corphish used its defensive move both claws outstretched and much to the surprise of everyone but Ash, Corphish bounced off the pillar. Flying back towards Togekiss, everyone gaping at the spectacle of the flying crab, Corphish had managed to launch itself back at Togekiss with the full power of its own Psychic attack. And in mid air Corphish drew its claws in a Crab Hammer attack and slammed with full power into Togekiss who was too alarmed to follow Aura's desperate cry to dodge.

Togekiss was knocked out of the sky and fell to the ground with Corphish on top of it. And even as the ruffian Pokémon prepared to fight once more, it proved unnecessary as it was all too clear Nixie was right when she gave her call.

'Togekiss is unable to battle; the round goes to Corphish.'

Aura stared in complete and utter shock for a moment before withdrawing her Pokémon and whispering to the Pokéball, 'Sorry Togekiss, I never thought that could happen.'

Meanwhile the rest of the group turned to stare at Misty, Paul and Brock who were grinning in amusement, '_That_ was Ash's strategy?' Drew demanded.

'Hey, all he said to us directly is Corphish is bouncy,' Misty shrugged.

Paul snorted slightly and said, 'The rest we had to try to figure out from what he was saying to Corphish.'

'...I still can't believe he thought of that,' Dawn whispered, still staring.

'Wait till you see what he's got planned next,' Brock grinned, 'It's actually pretty clever-'

'Tornadus I choose you!' Aura cried over the top of Brock's response making them all whip around.

Hovering on the battlefield was possibly one of the weirdest creatures any of them had ever seen. It floated on a cloud; it's strange, green almost humanoid looking form leering at them, covered in purple splotches. A large purple tentacle ridged with yellow for a tail, and billowing white hair and strange sharp horns. It was a strange looking creature, and even for Ash who had seen it before, it was still rather shocking.

'Still good to go Corphish?' Ash asked the water-type, seeming to be considering rearranging his strategy if Corphish wasn't up to facing it.

But Corphish took one look at Ash and the nerves starting to set back into his trainer, and gave a single sharp nod before glowing an amazingly bright white. Everyone stared in shock as Corphish's form began to grow much larger and wider, it's claws snapping outwards and its entire shape changing and adapting before much to everyone's shock, standing before them was an all too powerful looking Crawdaunt.

'Corphish...' Ash whispered before his entire face split into a grin and he exclaimed, 'Crawdaunt!'

'Let me guess, that wasn't part of the plan,' Dawn asked.

Paul looked at her in some sort of amusement before commenting, 'You can't plan an evolution, it's all luck.'

'And if you do plan it?'

'It's tacky and unethical,' Drew commented.

Dawn turned at Drew's comment before saying, 'Remind me to introduce you to my rival Ursula at some point.'

Drew looked amused at Dawn's comment but Paul looked at Dawn and asked, 'The pink spring head?'

'You know her?' Dawn asked.

'She's from Veilstone, we've met,' Paul shrugged, not seeing what the big deal is.

'So the ego is a Veilstone thing?' Dawn asked before realising what she'd just said but much to her surprise, Paul just smirked slightly.

'Of course it is;

'Guys! Shut up I want to watch the match,' Max complained, 'I know this is going to be a great one!'

* * *

**Hey all;**

**A fast update from me, lately I'm on a roll, I'd love to hear some more of what you think of the story, so please review, everything that my readers say is being taken into account, so I'd like to take this moment to thank Lightningblade49, White-Falcon-06 and Beastmode456, for their amazing reviews, and I can't wait to see what you think of this next installment.  
So see you next time for what will be the conclusion of Ash and Aura's battle, and the reveal of the next gym they shall be travelling to, and be sure to weight in on your opinions on the questions I asked last chapter:  
Which of Ash's Pokémon do you wish would evolve?  
Which Pokémon that don't evolve do you think should?  
What Pokémon can you see Max catching?  
And which Pokémon gym do you want to see Ash face next?**

**Much love to all of my readers and reviewers**

**~Selina**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two:**

'This battle between Tornadus and Crawdaunt shall begin!' Nixie announced waving her two flags.

Ash stared at Tornadus, still trying to figure out what moves it would pull out, especially seeing as it was Carinthia trained, which meant he should expect anything and everything to happen. Aura seemed to have gone into a state of calm, which worried him, because he knew Nixie had been right when she said that the one who managed to stay calm would be the winner of the battle, and he still wasn't sure if it was going to be him.

'Iron Tail Tornadus,' Aura commanded effortlessly.

Tornadus glided forward with surprising speed and it's immense tail glowing silvery-white was swinging towards Crawdaunt, 'Grab it with Vicegrip Crawdaunt!' he called loudly.

Both claws outstretched, Crawdaunt grabbed the tail and then used it to throw Tornadus hard and fast. Ash couldn't help but be stunned by his Crawdaunt's newly found strength. And looking at his Pokédex for reference he called one of Crawdaunt's new moves.

'Use your Ice Beam attack Crawdaunt!' he called loudly.

The glacial beam split through the air from Crawdaunt's open claw, heading towards Tornadus at full speed, but Aura had regained her bored expression as she called, 'Heat Wave Tornadus.'

The Ice Beam was vaporised by the fire-type attack, which soon became a threat as Aura called loudly, 'Mix in Hurricane.'

Tornadus spun in it's spot and the harsh winds caught up the residue of the Heat Wave attack adding sparks and fire balls to the attack heading straight towards Crawdaunt. Ash stared in alarm, before remembering that he had to stay calm or he would lose.

'Harden Crawdaunt, you can take it!' he called to the water type who shone brightly as the winds transcended upon it.

As the winds cleared Crawdaunt was still standing, and Ash breathed a small sigh of relied as he called out, 'Use Dark Pulse Crawdaunt!'

The ball of dark energy hurtled towards Tornadus at Ash's call but Aura just called out, 'Counter it with your own Dark Pulse Tornadus.'

As the two attacks collided with one another however, it caused an explosion that ricocheted across the entire battle field. Ash was forced to cover his eyes to avoid the tangent of sparks that flew at all angles, but when he could finally see again, he knew it wasn't going to be good.

Crawdaunt was standing, but only just, it was breathing heavily, it's claws weighed down on the ground, it had taken most of the brunt of that explosion. Tornadus looked weakened at the most, but it was far from out.

Ash struggled to think of what to do, especially with Crawdaunt in such weakened condition. Just because it had evolved didn't mean it was fully recovered from its intense battle against both Togekiss and Honchkrow before that. Ash bit his lip hard, he was close to withdrawing Crawdaunt when he realised that it wasn't going to let him, it didn't want him to. He recognised the stubborn, determined look on its face, it reminded him of him and he knew in Crawdaunt's situation he'd feel like being taken out of the battle was like saying he wasn't good enough, and he wasn't going to let Crawdaunt think that.

'Okay Crawdaunt, you can do this, I believe in you! Use Bubblebeam!'

The bubbles spurted from Crawdaunt's claws, at much stronger an attack than it could have as a Corphish, but as they spurted towards Tornadus, Aura just in time called, 'Icy Wind!'

The bubbles froze over quickly, each dropping out of the sky but Ash was not going to let Crawdaunt down yet, 'Hit them up with Crab Hammer Crawdaunt!' he called.

Crawdaunt charged forward, claws glowing as it smashed the conjoined frozen bubbles upwards, straight back towards Tornadus. Even as the bubbles shattered, however they coated Tornadus in ice, distracting Aura enough for him to get another shot in.

'Ice Beam now Crawdaunt!'

The ice attack splintered through the air, and actually hit its mark on Tornadus, freezing over the entire cloud that it sat upon, making it struggle to stay afloat. Ash grinned in relief that it had worked, but he could see Aura was far from defeated. And he would later wish that he hadn't brought Crawdaunt so close when Aura gave her next call.

'Superpower Tornadus!'

Surrounded by an aura of indigo light, Tornadus descended and slammed so hard into Crawdaunt that the crab-like Pokémon was sent sprawling to the other side of the field. But even as Crawdaunt still insisted on getting up after the severe damage it had taken, Aura looking flustered gave one last call.

'U-turn Tornadus!'

Tornadus splintered so fast through the air that Ash couldn't even see him before it slammed hard into Crawdaunt before reappearing back into its spot near Aura. And even as Ash yelled out in shock, he knew what had happened. Crawdaunt had been knocked out.

'Crawdaunt is unable to battle, Tornadus has won this round.'

Ash sighed, pulling out his Pokéball and returning Crawdaunt, 'You did so well buddy, I'm really proud of you.'

He replaced the Pokéball at his hip, and went to reach for Sceptile's Pokéball, but a sudden voice at his side surprised him, 'Pi-pikachu!'

'Pikachu? You want to battle buddy?' he asked the little electric mouse.

'Pika pika!' it chanted in affirmation.

Ash couldn't help but grin at his partner as he nodded in agreement, 'Okay then buddy, I choose you.'

Pikachu scampered onto the field, electricity sparking from its cheeks, clearly feeling better after taking the full force of a Hyper Beam earlier. It seemed raring to go and determined to get things done, it wanted to take Tornadus down.

'The Pikachu again?' Aura sighed, 'Start off with Sludge Wave Tornadus!'

The colossal wave of purple liquid hit the battle field as Tornadus raised its arms to the sky, and as it came towards Pikachu, Ash called out, 'Dodge with Agility Pikachu.'

Managing to dodge just in time, Pikachu skated out of the way, but suddenly it was caught in mid jump as Tornadus picked it up in the Psychic attack Aura had called for. Hanging by its tail in mid-air, Pikachu cried out in alarm, as Aura simply looked grim but Ash had an idea.

'Use your height to your advantage. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!'

Aura was clearly expecting to be able to redirect it with Psychic, but instead of just firing it in a single beam, the entire electrical charge flew out at all angles, striking the marble and bouncing back towards Tornadus in a joint formation. And the flying legend was forced to drop Pikachu as it needed all its focus to stop itself being irradiated by the lightning attacks.

But even as it managed to, it was the opening Ash needed as he called out to Pikachu, 'Quick Attack! Then use Iron Tail and keep striking.'

The electric mouse zipped through the air, gravity not kicking in fast enough for it to stop Pikachu as it slammed into Tornadus and it began slashing its tail again and again at the living legend. Pikachu bounced off Tornadus's cloud using it as leverage to continue to attack without falling. Tornadus was looking progressively and progressively weaker, but Ash knew he was pushing it keeping Pikachu so close to it now so he called out to Pikachu.

'Okay, Agility to get back over here Pikachu!' he called, pulling it out of the firing line.

'Dark Pulse into Icy Wind Tornadus!' Aura called, her calm irradiated, seeming to have been putting on a mask the entire time and the raw fury was seeping out.

The incredible power of the legendary Pokémon swept out in the combination attack, the ball of dark energy glittering with ice. And although he knew that they didn't want to be impressed, he could hear the gasps of amazement from the three coordinators behind him. It was a rather beautiful attack, but there was no way he could let it hit.

'Dodge it Pikachu!' he called hastily.

Pikachu bounded out of the way, but wasn't able to escape the full attack, as its edge struck Pikachu, sending the electric-type flying, but it determinately got up and at Ash's call attacked again, 'Double Edge Pikachu!'

Pikachu glided through the air striking Tornadus hard, but it was clear it had taken some recoil damage judging by the way it fell back to the ground, and Aura used the situation to her advantage, 'Thrash Tornadus!'

Tornadus flew down and began pummelling into Pikachu, and Ash was forced to make a quick call, 'Thundershock Pikachu!'

It was the weakest electrical attack in Pikachu's arsenal, but it had one affect that Ash knew he needed if he was going to win this battle and still have someone left to take out Altaria. It almost always caused paralysis.

Tornadus backed up slightly electricity sparking from it and Aura looked alarmed as she realised what Ash had done, but she powered on, 'Use Heat Wave while its still close.'

The heat started radiating from all angles of Tornadus's form, and Ash hastily called out to Pikachu, 'Get out of there!'

Pikachu stumbled to its feet and bolted for it, clearly still feeling fatigued from the onslaught of Thrash, and now with Tornadus looking just as annoyed as its trainer Ash knew he had to act fast.

'Pikachu, use Electro Ball!' he bellowed.

The electricity centred around its tail before the ball of yellow-orange appeared and in a single front flip the sparking ball flew towards Tornadus, 'Dodge it!' Aura commanded.

But it wasn't fast enough, and with the paralysis affects slowing it down, the Electro Ball connected, causing a shark yell of pain to come roaring from Tornadus's mouth. Ash knew it, he was almost there, he had almost got it, a few more attacks and Tornadus was out. He could feel it.

'Sludge Wave Tornadus,' Aura called, and at its slower speed, Tornadus complied.

'Agility to dodge Pikachu!' he retaliated.

Pikachu ran like crazy to get out of the way, and managed to dodge most of the poisonous wave, but still getting hit by some flecks of poison making it cry out in alarm. And judging by the way Pikachu was starting to pant, he knew that he had one chance to finish this before Pikachu got to weak to do much else.

'Pikachu, we're almost there use Volt Tackle!'

Pikachu glowing in golden light streaked through the air towards Tornadus and closing in on Tornadus. But out of no where the legendary Pokémon attacked before Aura could make a call, smashing an Iron Tail into Pikachu even as its Volt Tackle struck.

There was a colossal explosion rung out and everyone was forced to cover there faces as smoke and dust flew out at all angles, but when it cleared, Ash couldn't help but stop breathing as he saw what had happened. Pikachu lay on the ground, scratched, battered and singed from where it had collapsed, falling down that distance could not have made it any easier to take the recoil damage, the iron tail attack and the force of the explosion. And it was no wonder to Ash why Pikachu had fainted where it lay. But Pikachu had done one thing that made its sacrifice worth the damage, because barely a meter away, Tornadus to lay on the ground, completely knocked out, the legend had fallen.

Before Nixie had even called out decreeing it a double knock out with neither Pokémon able to battle, Ash had already ran onto the field to pick his partner up. He cradled it in his arms, as Pikachu woke up, eyes dim with pain, but all too proud of what it had managed to pull off.

'You okay buddy?' he asked quietly.

'Chaa!' it gasped tiredly, but affirmatively.

'You did so well, now I'm giving you to Brock for now, okay?' he said gently walking off the field.

'Pika-Pika,' it nodded as Ash handed his injured friend to Brock.

'Take care of Pikachu for now,' he told Brock.

He barely had to say anything, as Brock was already pulling a Sitrus Berry out of his backpack and gently giving Pikachu a piece already, treating it like an injured child. Ash smiled gently before patting Pikachu on the head and turned back to the field, he knew what was next, and as he reached for Sceptile's Pokéball, he knew he could take it.

He tossed Sceptile's Pokéball lightly in his hand, smiling gently, as Aura glared at him and drew back her arm, 'Altaria, take him down!'

The strange flying dragon emerged from its Pokéball, a high pitched note of song rupturing from its throat. Its wings were like a strange combination of cotton candy and clouds, and its blue plumage only further emphasised its oddity. But even though Ash had seen the Altaria raised by a member of the Elite Four, something seemed to almost be even stronger about this one. And he couldn't help but smile to himself for some reason, Sceptile had lost to that Altaria as a Grovyle, it was going to enjoy this.

'Sceptile, I choose you!' he cheered.

The tall grass type emerged, sticking its constantly carried stick into its mouth like a piece of hay from an old west movie. It swung its frond like tail, revving itself up, flexing its spiked arms and twisting its long neck to loosen its joints. Sceptile was ready, it knew it could do this. Ash pulled out his Pokédex, figuring that someone as hardworking as Sceptile might have learnt a new move or two since the Sinnoh League, and he was happy to find after looking it over that he was right.

'Sceptile use Le-'

'Draco Meteor!' Aura yelled loud enough to drown him out.

Altaria drew back its head, a ball of light forming at its throat before it flew into the air and shattered like fireworks before their very eyes causing Ash to change his strategy and call out, 'Agility Sceptile!'

Sceptile bolted, barely able to be seen with its incredible speed, managing to dodge bolt after bolt that fell from the Draco Meteor attack. But after much dodging the grass-type was clipped by one, causing a large graze along its arm, and Ash took a deep breath to calm himself, he had to stay in the zone.

'Sceptile, shake it off and use Rock Slide!' he called.

Sceptile jumped into the air and slammed its tail hard into the ground, making everything shake and jitter before it flipped into the air and forming around it were a ring of boulders. And with final flick of its tails the rocks all launched into the air before starting to crash around Altaria, making Ash grin as several found their mark.

'Follow it up with Pound Sceptile!' he called loudly.

Sceptile hurtled through the air, spinning as it launched its way towards Altaria, but Aura was not taking it, 'Altaria, Ice Beam.'

With a high pitched note, Altaria reared back its head and the powder blue beam sped towards the oncoming Sceptile and Ash called out, not going to risk Sceptile's injury, 'Use Detect!'

Sceptile eyes glowed and as the Ice Beam streaked towards it, out of no where Sceptile pulled an incredible dodge before slamming straight back into a Pound Attack like directed before. Ash grinned in relief as Sceptile landed neatly on the ground, he knew he'd definitely made the right decision in choosing Sceptile to battle today, he couldn't help but consider it one of his most powerful Pokémon.

'Okay now use-'

But the sentence had hardly begun when Aura's call made him be forced to adapt as she spoke quickly, 'Iron Tail.'

Altaria's many fanned tail spread out, glowing in an all to familiar way as it swooped down out of no where and attacked. Slamming its tail into Sceptile's form, knocking it to the other end of the field before Ash could so much as register the situation. Aura smiled ever so slightly, before making another call.

'Let's go hunting Altaria, use Pursuit.'

Ash knew that the first phrase wasn't for nothing, when Aura was calm, everything was a signal to her Pokémon on how she was playing. She didn't find it necessary to use any excess words unless it meant something to her Pokémon.

Altaria glided through the air, coming back towards Sceptile as Ash made his call, 'Get out of there with Agility.'

Sceptile zipped across the battlefield, leaping around the stone pillar, and escaping all of Altaria's attempts to attack it. But then out of no where Altaria gave its wings one more powerful boost and glowing with dark energy it slammed straight into Sceptile. However instead of using its full body to knock Sceptile flying, it struck it in its legs, swiping its feet from under it and from what Ash could see, possibly causing an injury to the back of its calf.

Ash knew that would greatly hamper both its speed and jumping ability, and that's when he realised what Aura meant by hunting, but he didn't have to much time to linger as Aura called out, 'Use Sky Attack Altaria!'

Altaria took to the skies, slowly starting to glow as Ash realised he had to act, 'Ready for a Solar Beam Sceptile?'

Sceptile got up stubbornly and prepared itself, sucking in energy from the sun with its tail as Altaria burst into flames, hurtling down towards it. By the sheer luck of Sceptile's natural speed, it was the Solar Beam that struck first, but it wasn't over. Because even as Altaria was struck by the light, it started to do something. Spinning in its descent Altaria's flaming form started to power through the Solarbeam, and despite the obvious damage it was taking, only further emphasised by the shrill sound it was making, it Sky Attack still struck.

The attack caused a small explosion as it struck Sceptile, and by the time things started to clear both Pokémon facing each other, now on opposite ends of the battlefield looked exhausted. Sceptile had taken the worst damage, having been struck by the most powerful flying-type move he knew. But Altaria had taken a lot of damage by taking not just the full brunt of a Solarbeam, but flying through it and only prolonging the damage.

'You know Ash, you've trained that Sceptile really well, I can think of very few grass types non-Carinthia trained that would have been able to take that hit,' Aura said mystically.

Ash felt a strange cross between being proud and angered, but he suddenly realised that she was right on how much of a dangerous hit it must have been when Sceptile glowed green as its Overgrow ability kicked in. But it took him a second to remember that Overgrow was a good thing.

Ash grinned knowing from the look on Aura's face that she knew what this meant as he called out, 'Sceptile, use Leaf Storm!'

The seeds on Sceptile's tail began to glow bright white as Sceptile's near over-powered Leaf Storm hurtled straight towards Altaria, and struck hard. But even as the barrage of leaves ceased, Altaria was still standing, barely, but it was still conscious.

'Altaria, use Heal Bell!'

Ash then remembered what Paul had mentioned about Aura's Altaria, what had prompted the whole argument between him and Misty, and he wondered how a move meant to affect everyone but the user, could be used on itself and not affect the opponent. But as he watched in awe, Altaria closed its wings around itself as the strange blue waves emanated from its throat and as they hit its wings, Altaria started to look healthier and healthier.

'Sceptile, use Quick Attack into Night Slash!' he called desperately.

His injured Sceptile tore through the air and slammed into Altaria, and generating a purple light around its arm began to slam into the dragon type with all the strength it had left. Altaria remained in its little cocoon of feathers even as hit after hit landed. When it eventually came out however, it threw Sceptile off it in one move, looking refreshed and definitely in better condition than Sceptile did.

'Altaria, use Iron Tail one more time,' Aura said, the finality in her tone obvious.

With Sceptile still so close, it barely took any time for Altaria to fly towards Sceptile, managing to escape the damage as Ash called, 'Detect,' but as two more Iron Tail attacks approached it, the final swing connected.

Sceptile was knocked into the dirt, barely a meter from Ash as he stared in horror, realising the sheer power of Aura's Altaria. And he realised now that this ability that the Carinthia's had, to turn their Pokémon into elite fighters was far from talk, it was completely accurate. But even as this thought occurred to him, as he thought Sceptile was down and out, the Forest Pokémon dragged itself to its feet, somehow managing to find the strength to get up despite taking the extra hits.

'Tile...' it panted, the determination so obvious in its eyes.

'Sceptile...' he whispered, and that's when he realised that he couldn't lose this battle, he just couldn't even consider that as an option, not when his Pokémon were working so ridiculously hard, 'Okay Sceptile, one hit, that's what we need to win this, now please, if you can, use Dragon Pulse.'

Illuminated by pale green Sceptile fired the last attack it had the strength for towards Altaria, the ball of green light becoming unavoidable as Aura called alertedly for it to take to the skies. But Sceptile's effort proved all too worth it as the ball migrated to the skies and struck Altaria hard causing to crash into the ground, the super-effective attack taking so much damage from it, the effort was clear as it stumbled to its feet.

Aura's face had gone from calm into one of rage as she suddenly yelled, 'Altaria! Fire Blast!'

But even as the flames spiralled through the air, Sceptile made no attempt to dodge it, even when Ash started to tell it to. It simply looked at its trainer and nodded sharply, just once, seeming to know that Ash wouldn't let its efforts go down in vain, and that its team mate would be able to take out Altaria now that it was down to the line. Even as the fire attack scorched its way against Sceptile, the Pokémon retained its pride, looking prepared for it as it slumped its way to the ground and Nixie, eyes wide and shocked and what she had witnessed gave a slightly hesitant call.

'Sceptile is unable to battle, if the challenger would please send out his final Pokémon.'

Ash stared at his fallen friend, a small smile making its way onto his face as he drew out his Pokéball, 'Return Sceptile... I promise you buddy, this isn't going to be where it ends, I'm not going to lose this. Muk! Come back out!'

The large, slimy Pokémon landed roughly on the ground from its Pokéball, and by the look on its face, it seemed to know exactly what Sceptile had just done, and by its roar, it was determined to avenge its fallen team mate.

'Okay Muk, you can do this, let's start out with Shadow Punch!'

Ghostly fists began to glide through the air, honing in on Altaria, and striking hard, making Altaria make a quick landing to regain its composure, and Ash hastily took advantage of it by calling out, 'Muk use Rock Tomb!'

The stone pyramid closed around Altaria, preventing it from moving or being able to attack Muk in one go, or so he thought until Aura called, 'Altaria use Earthquake!'

A sheer high pitched note rang out and soon enough he could both see and feel the seismic waves ringing across the field, both making Ash fall over and clearly hurting and injuring Muk. And much to his further misfortune, it pulled apart the Rock Tomb to the point that Altaria was able to climb out, staying perched there like it was taunting him.

But Ash remained calm, surveying the damage that Muk had sustained, before calling his next attack, 'Use Sludge Wave Muk.'

The tremendous wave of toxic liquid washed its way across the battlefield, even as Altaria took to the sky to avoid it, as it lapped across the battlefield it struck some of the pillars and rocks sending it spraying into the air. As the poison connected with Altaria, he knew he had to act quickly if he was going to take advantage of its distraction.

'Now use Sludge Bomb!'

Globs of toxic waste fired through the air from Muk's open mouth, puncturing the air and striking Altaria as it fell down through the air, into the still remaining sludge below. Ash knew he'd gotten the break he needed as this happened, and he called for what he couldn't help but be sure that it would be the final blow.

'Muk, use Ice Punch!'

Muk clambered forward, the poison spread across the ground having no obvious affect upon it as it slid towards Altaria, who was still trying to get up with its wet feathers weighing it down, 'Get out of there Altaria!' Aura screamed.

But it was too late as Muk approached, and slammed its ice cold fist straight into Altaria. The flying-type Pokémon let out a burst of fractured notes, and in a clear act of enormous willpower and strength, it flew away, not fainting as it landed in front of Aura. It had taken a doubly super-effective attack, and still standing, and Ash knew that it was a mark of a truly powerful Pokémon. And as his eyes locked with Aura's, he had a feeling that they were both thinking the same thing. The next shot would have to be the last one if both of them were to keep their pride, and a single nod was exchanged between them, it was time for this to end.

'Muk!'

'Altaria!'

'Use Hyper Beam!'

* * *

**Hello everyone! I'm back once more!**

**Wow, I never thought I would have updated this much in the last few weeks but I have, personally I'm proud of myself. The final conclusion to the battle shall be next chapter, as actually having the conclusion in this chapter would have made it overly long, and it is already the longest chapter in this story so far. If you haven't already, be sure to weigh in on the questions I've been asking for the last few chapters, especially the matter of which gym you want to see next. So I'll see you all next time, and it won't be to long at all, battle scenes are harder to write than most normal scenes. **

**A review for me, a chapter for you, I put in all this effort, shall you do it too?... That sounded much funnier in my head, oh well.**

**~Selina**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three:**

_'Use Hyper Beam!'_

Those three words were lingering through the air, echoing through the room even after the colossal explosion that has started when the two jets of orange light had collided had taken its toll; it was still vibrating through the air. Both Aura and Ash had said it at the same time, to the extent that it almost seemed planned, but the smoke was covering both their precious Pokémon from view so they could only guess the result that could have went down.

Everyone knew that Altaria itself had a higher attack stat, and despite its near exhaustion, it would have been the more powerful Hyper Beam. But Muk's defence and health in general was higher and if any of Ash's Pokémon could survive such a powerful attack in its already weakened condition, it would probably be Muk. The smoke was lingering through the air, neither able to see what happened. And even as the room fell into dead silence, Ash and Aura's voices still seemed to echo through the room.

But it wasn't until the smoke finally cleared that it was revealed the result, a result that no one had seen coming. Because still conscious, injured and struggling to get up, both Pokémon had managed to survive the hit. Ash's shock was mirrored on Aura's face; both had been convinced that at least one Pokémon would have fallen, but both were still insisting on staying conscious.

The tension in the air was thick as fog as both Pokémon struggled, forcing themselves to get further and further back up. Muk having deflated under the attack was slowly rising back into its usual form, blackened and scorched but still determined. Altaria looked like it had flown through a field of thorns, but it was clawing its way to its feet, ever so determined to get up, to still fight.

But as everyone held their breaths, Altaria stumbled before falling flat on its face. Ash stared in shock, not seeming at all to comprehend what Altaria's fainting meant until the decision rang out.

'Altaria is unable to battle, Muk has taken the round, and the battle has gone to the challenger, Ash Ketchum has won this Gym Challenge.'

It still took a few seconds for Ash to process this as all of a sudden Ash registered what had happened and ran to Muk's side, sliding along on his knees as he hugged the poison type who then practically smothered him. But Ash didn't really care, Muk had done it, the one Pokémon who he'd been the most unsure of adding to his team had proven that he never should have doubted it, and Ash's pure relief as he hugged his Pokémon, his team had done it, they'd beaten another Carinthia.

He felt a presence approach him and he looked up slightly to see Aura standing there, having withdrawn Altaria already she eventually gave him a short nod, 'Okay, you win Ash.'

He grinned at her and couldn't help but notice that she'd gone back to her emotionless demeanour, 'Thanks Aura… are you okay?'

'Of course I am, I'm just not use to my battles being this close, it gives me a sense of satisfaction,' she said simply.

'Well, thanks, I know what you mean-'

'I don't think you do, it gives me a weird sense of satisfaction because I know that if it was this tight with me, my brothers and sisters are going to crush you later,' she said a small glint of amusement hinting her eyes.

But Ash didn't feel threatened however, he just grinned at Aura, seeming to understand this was a way of her defending not just herself, but the family name, 'Bring them on then.'

Aura slowly smiled before pulling out a small object, 'Here,' Ash grinned, getting to his feet to see the badge.

It was a small, pale blue circle of the same shape and size of the Tyche badge, but it was emblazoned with an entirely different symbol. A single white feather was painted onto the badge, with gaps to show more of the blue. Ash took it from her hand, smiling to himself as he examined it.

'That is the Aeolus Badge, a symbol of a Trainer's faith in their Pokémon.'

Ash couldn't help but contain his joy, as he held the badge in the air, exclaiming loudly, 'I won the Aeolus Badge!'

Pikachu bounded up, landing on his shoulder, 'Pi-Pikachu!' loudly.

Muk roared in affirmation, clearly all too proud of itself, it had been the first time that it had been used in a gym battle, and until now it hadn't known how it felt to win a badge, so Ash crouched down in front of his Pokémon, 'You did it buddy,' he said showing it to the poison type, 'This is what we've won thanks to you… I'm sorry you didn't get to do something like this sooner.'

'Muk!' it called cheerfully, practically smothering its trainer in yet another hug.

…

'The Eclipse League badges are some of the most interesting there are, it's really a true depiction of their elemental specialty,' Dawn said philosophically who was looking over Ash's shoulder in the shuttle car down the mountain

Ash grinned at her in response before looking up at Nixie and saying, 'Still can't believe you made us climb up the mountain when there was a cable car.'

'Why do anything the easy way? Besides, at the rate you eat, you need all the exercise you can get,' she fired at him, 'But then again, with all the energy you must have used simply fretting in the battle no wonder you eat like an Ursaring preparing for the winter.'

Ash burst out laughing, now in such a good mood that the teasing had very little effect on him, 'You've got a point, at one point I was so convinced I was going to lose I could barely breathe.'

'Well, that's why you have us,' Misty laughed from when she was leaning against the wall, 'To stop you from freaking out, or more often, stop you getting a big head about the success you do achieve.'

'So I _achieve _it do I? You spent most of the time we've been travelling together saying I did it all on luck and by accident,' he said intending it for it to be a joke.

But it didn't go as he intended as Paul said, 'Most of the time you do.'

'…I still beat you in the Sinnoh League!'

'Yes, then got crushed by the next guy,' Paul retorted.

'Who went onto win and seeing as no one else even knocked out one of his Pokémon so arguably, I came second!'

'Arguably, but you can't exactly prove it, now can you?' Paul sighed, a smirk set on his face.

There was a slight pause for a second before both Paul and Ash broke and both burst out laughing. Those who knew Paul gaped at him, but everyone else merely grinned, not understanding how new Paul laughing was.

'Wow,' Brock commented, 'That loss must have clearly done you some good.'

'That's what Reggie says as well,' Paul shrugged, still not seeming overly convinced, but not shooting down the idea either.

Ash smiled, before turning to Nixie and asking, 'Where do you recon we should go next? What gym is my next challenge?'

'Oh I'm still considering a few ideas, ten options to consider,' Nixie shrugged.

'Don't you mean fifteen?' Paul said quirking an eyebrow.

'Of course not, you can't challenge the top five until you have twelve badges... who the hell filled you in on the league?' Nixie demanded after a second.

'Some girl... Sacha or something?' he shrugged.

'Oh thank god I fired that girl,' Nixie remarked.

'For what? Flirting with every guy in the vicinity of the Pokémon Centre?' Paul scoffed.

May was glaring darkly at Drew at this comment, who simply shrugged and said, 'Can I help I'm irresistible May?'

'Well after I turned her down I saw her make out with four different guys in the lobby within about two hours,' Paul said, already raining on Drew's parade.

'I think we already learned for her selecting Drew that she wasn't that picky anyway.'

Drew fell dead silent, as it was his turn to glare at May, he really didn't know where May would pick up this dark humor, until he thought about it for a second... He'd definitely been a bad influence on her; she couldn't have picked it up from Nixie and Paul this fast.

...

In the Pokémon Centre, the large group of trainers, coordinators sat talking to one another, talking about bits and pieces of Ash's victory over Aura. They were waiting for Nurse Joy to finish treating his Pokémon, the Nurse having gone into a flurry, and started insisting she'd rarely seen any Pokémon sustain so much damage and started chiding him to the point where Ash had slipped away as awkwardly as possible. Brock had offered to help her, and was currently doing as much as he could without going close enough to her to cause a love-fit as they'd started to call them. While the group sat relaxed, as Nixie told them more about the sort of gyms she could take them to next.

'Well there's a lot to take into consideration Ash, I mean really, logically speaking I should send you to one of the younger kids, I mean really Tien and Aura have twins you haven't seen yet,' Nixie laughed.

'So Perry is Tien's twin, and Chromia is Aura's twin?' Max clarified.

'Wow, been reading up on the Carinthia's have you?' May asked her little brother.

'Well someone has to read the information guide Ash was given,' Max said slightly snidely.

'But then again, putting you up against a certain type could be disastrous for now, I mean really, there are some of them like Malina and Lectron who you just wouldn't be able to handle,' Nixie explained.

'They're the dragon and electric type leaders, right? Max asked.

'Ten points to the little-league,' Nixie laughed, 'Devora, she's the bug type leader, would probably be a good pick, but then again, it would hilarious to see you in the middle of an ego-off with Andreas.'

'Who's fighting type?'

'Correctomundo Maxy,' Nixie laughed, before saying pretty bluntly to Ash, 'But frankly, I think you need to train more before you face any of the other Carinthia's, you cut it a little to close today and you're Pokémon have quite a distance to progress. Especially before they try to face some of the tougher leaders.'

A look of self doubt spread across Ash's face, one that they didn't quite notice as Paul said, 'I was planning on heading west from here and challenging the ice-gym next, sound like a good idea to you Nyx?'

'For your training style, yes, but it's a permanent winter on Chione might want to take some warmer clothes,' Nixie laughed.

'Any advice on fighting Glacia? You seem to have a good inside view,' Paul questioned.

'Not exactly... look Glacia's partner is another Eclipse Island exclusive, which so far seems to be the only one of its kind. It's evolved from a Jynx... so far we're calling it a Gypsprit but it's not even confirmed yet so the Carinthia's are still working on it.'

Paul nodded, seeming to take this small piece of information on board very quickly, as if he was analysing every word for a hidden meaning, as Nixie said, 'I'm sure you can do it.'

Ash slowly got to his feet, the strange look of self-doubt still echoed on his features as he said hesitantly, 'I'm just going to see if my Pokémon are recovered enough for me to see them.'

Everyone nodded, smiling at him, but they're grins faltered slightly as they noticed the expression written into his features. Misty half rose from her spot, as did Dawn, but Paul gave them both a look, and followed Ash out of ear shot of the rest of the group.

'Ash,' he said shortly.

'Hm?'

'You haven't told them, have you?' Paul questioned.

'Told who what?' Ash said looking genuinely confused.

'Told all your friends about your battle in the Vertress Conference which clearly took more than one or two pegs off your self esteem,' Paul said extremely bluntly.

Ash's entire face blanched as he hissed, 'How did you-?'

'I've been keeping tabs on my old rival, why haven't you told them?' Paul asked shrewdly.

'Look, you don't know the whole story, and additionally, it's not your place to tell them, it's mine,' Ash grumbled.

'If I was going to tell them than they'd already know,' Paul said calmly, 'but they're your best friends Ash, you probably should say something. Even if it hurts your pride.'

'I will... eventually, can we just not talk about it for now?'Ash asked, Paul shrugged but Ash had already turned to Nurse Joy and asked, 'Hi, I was just hoping for an update on my Pokémon's status?'

'Most of your Pokémon are in recovery now, except for your Sceptile and Crawdaunt, they sustained a bit more damage than the others,' Nurse Joy said kindly, 'But I'm glad you came to check, I was asked to give you a message to call Gary Oak while you were battling this morning.'

'Gary?' Ash asked, 'I talked to him just before I left, wonder what came up.'

Ash walked over to the phones, and dialled for the Oak Laboratory, and soon enough Gary picked up, 'Ashy-boy, finally calling me back, it's been hours!'

'It's not easy battling the Carinthia's, but I won my Aeolus Badge,' Ash said proudly.

'Nice going Ash, which Gym do you think you'll head to next?'

'I don't know, Nixie's still making the decision, I really don't know too much about the Carinthia's so she's making the call,' he explained.

'Being bossed around by a girl huh? Sounds pretty usual for you,' Gary mock-taunted.

'Why'd you want me to call you Gary?' Ash asked, changing the subject.

'Pretty simple, after seeing that Corareef I decided that I had to see what the Islands have to offer, guess whose heading down there?' Gary laughed.

'You're coming to the islands? I thought you'd already been here,' Ash laughed.

'As a boyfriend, not as a researcher, I was pretty distracted by Ivy most of that time, this time I'm going to find out what makes the islands so special,' he insisted, laughing loudly.

'Well when you're determined, you're determined,' Ash grinned, before calling over his shoulder, 'Nixie! Can you just decide already?'

Nixie walked over to the phone, enjoying the way Gary's entire face lost all its colour as she drew near, 'Fine, fine, give me a sec,' she grinned at Gary, 'Hi, I'm Nixie.'

'Yes,' Gary said extremely quickly, although it went completely flew over the top of Ash's head.

'Any ideas what gym Ash should try?' she offered, still keeping an overly cheerful look on her face, which seemed to freak Gary out even more as he shook his head sharply.

'Not currently,' he squeaked, the reaction still going unnoticed by Ash, but clearly sending warning signs to Paul.

'Aw, that's a shame, one more second... Okay, I got it, we're heading to Ourea Island,' she said cheerfully, and started to walk off when Ash called out.

'Which one is that?'

'Read the bloody manual!'

* * *

**Back again! And ecstatic to say this story now has over ten thousand views!**

**To celebrate this milestone, I'm launching a competition for my amazing readers, the first three people to review with the answer on what Ash's next gym battle will be, which is easily discoverable by finding out what the island name means, will be PM'd by me to receive a prize. This prize will depend on the reader's wishes, and they can either receive: **

**1. A list of all the Carinthia's, their type specialties, badge/island name and their signature Pokemon.  
**

**2. The decision of which Pokemon they want to evolve, which shall be showcased within the next few chapters.**

**3. The decision of which of Ash's Pokemon they want to evolve next.**

**BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! These lucky contestants shall also get to select one of the six Pokemon that the gym leader shall use in the battle against Ash!**

**HAPPY 10000 VIEWS EVERYONE!**

**~Selina**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four:

'So, we're heading to the rock-type gym next?' Brock asked.

Nixie looked up, surprised that Brock was speaking directly to her. He usually avoided it because he was trying to supress his emotions most of the time. She waited a second, to test if he could actually handle it, before responding.

'Yeah, Perry's the rock-type specialist of the family,' she responded.

'It'll be interesting to see how the gym is run,' he smiled slightly.

Nixie looked up at him once again, the other younger kids had all gone to bed about an hour ago, but she hadn't felt tired so she hadn't bothered going to bed. Brock had been helping Nurse Joy for the last few hours and had joined Nixie only a little while ago.

'Why do I have a feeling that this gym is of particular interest to you?' she couldn't help but ask.

'Oh I was the gym leader in Pewter City, it's a rock gym-'

'I know the Pewter Gym, but I thought some kid ah… Forrest; he was running it, and before that it was someone called Flint,' she questioned.

'Yeah, well, it was, Forrest is my little brother, and Flint's my father, I was the gym leader for about two years before I started travelling with Ash in the first place,' he explained.

'Oh, I just presumed you'd been a breeder from the start,' she said, rolling over on the couch to properly, 'why'd you decide to become one? I mean it isn't exactly a precise idea.'

'I know, but I always got more joy out of raising Pokémon rather than battling with them. But the fact that it is so imprecise is most of the reason that I decided to do something else, well until you talked me out of it.'

Nixie slowly started to smile, 'I still don't entirely remember doing that, I go slightly insane when I have caffeine.'

'You don't remember?' he asked.

'No, not really,' she shrugged, 'Why? Is there some big issue about that?'

Brock just gaped at her, before standing and saying quietly, 'You made me believe that I could follow my dreams. That I should come here and give everything another chance. And you don't remember any of it?'

'Not particularly,' she offered weakly, she could tell that it offended him somehow, not that she quite understood why.

'Okay…' he said quietly, 'I think I'll head to bed now, I'm getting pretty tired.'

Brock exited, making Nixie start to feel pretty bad, although she wasn't even entirely sure why she felt bad about it, she pulled out her Pokégear from her pocket and dialled a number before waiting for an answer, 'Perry? You there?'

**'Yeah, what do you want sis?'**

The voice was grumbly at the other end, like she had called him before he was about to go to sleep, 'I presume you've heard from Tien what I've been up to.'

**'Yeah, and Aura called me earlier tonight.'**

'Well, I'm heading your way now with the little group that I've been travelling with, we should be there tomorrow or the day after,' she explained, 'Depends on the wind I guess.'

There was a short pause on the other end of the line before Perry replied saying:

**'You might want to hold off a bit; the ocean has been a little bit finicky coming up to Ourea.'**

'You know I can handle it Perry, what's the real reason you're stalling me?'

**'Am I that obvious?'**

Nixie rolled her eyes heavily before replying, 'I practically raised you Per, I know when you're lying, bluffing, exaggerating or all of the above.'

**'…Okay, fine have it your way. There's someone here who's quite a big fan of yours, they've been asking me to help them out with their training, and I have, but they seems far more interested in trying to get you to make them an apprentice.'**

Nixie groaned slightly, 'Really? Now of all times?'

**'They won't leave Nyx; they've practically forced me to agree to bring her to Hydie's coordinator thing in a few weeks. They really want to meet you.'**

'Using her female powers of persuasion I presume?' Nixie drawled.

**'W-what are you talking about? Did I even say it was a girl?'**

'You said bring _her_ to Hydie's coordinator thing, so close Perry, but the pronouns win this time,' she laughed, 'Why is she such a big fan of me? I mean really, usually all the girls flock to the Demitri or Asterion if they're interested in power, usually the creepazoids guys come after me.'

**'Type specialty, she worships you for it, you are perceived as the best trainer in the world when it comes to-'**

'I know, I know, ugh, I can stall Ash and the others for a few days, convince him to do a little more training before he runs in insisting he wants a battle. Just get her out of there before I arrive, okay? I do not need a fan-girl ruining the one chance I have to not be part of the _matched set._'

**'I'll do what I can; I know this is important to you.'**

'Well aren't you a good little brother, apart from Lectron you're the only one who listens to me, and the only one I know will play along,' she laughed, 'It was kind of hard to pick a gym when I know some of the ones Ash would do well at wouldn't keep it a secret.'

**'Aura said he was very good at changing strategy, that he was good at making you think you've finally got him and turning it around.'**

'Yeah, that's Ash for you, it's a shame I can't pit him against Andreas yet, that would be hilarious to see how pissed they could get at each other,' she laughed, 'But I won't say anymore, it'd give you an unfair advantage.'

**'Okay, okay, I get it,'** laughed the voice on the other end of the phone, **'But you're going to have to tell them eventually, I mean really, Devora, Ivy and Duska will play your game, but I'm not sure if anyone else will. I mean Chromia would, but then again she's too much like you for someone not to figure it out.'**

'I know, but I'm enjoying this far too much to let it go now, I should probably get some rest though, night night Perry,' she laughed.

**'Goodnight sis, I'll see you soon.'**

…

Gary sat in the living room of his Grandfather's laboratory, thinking hard about what was going on. He'd told Ash he was coming but one look at the girl Ash thought was named Nixie, and he was starting to feel unsure of himself. He was flicking through a webpage on his laptop about the sort of Pokémon being discovered in the region and he was deeply fascinated, but he was still a little unsure.

'Gary, what are you doing still up?' questioned a voice.

Gary looked up and shot a weak smile at his Grandfather, 'Not too much Gramps, just thinking.'

'Gary, this isn't about having to see Ivy again is it?' the Professor asked.

'No, no, no… well a little, I _really_ liked her and then she broke up with me to get her family off her back,' he said, voice filled with a self-consciousness he wouldn't let anyone else hear.

'Ivy is one of seventeen, with that many people campaigning against you I can imagine it was quite hard to ignore, but that was over a year ago Gary, I think it might be time to let her go,' Professor Oak told his grandson gently.

'I know, I know, but unfortunately Ash's lack of a brain is going to cause me a problem,' Gary complained.

'Now Gary, I hope you have a good reason for saying something like that,' the elder man said sternly.

'Remember me telling you about the sister who threatened to skin me alive if I ever hurt Ivy?' Gary asked.

'Yes; what about her?'

'She's travelling with Ash under some ridiculous name she's given him which he is perfectly convinced of, Nixie, or whatever she's calling herself now. Ash has no clue whatsoever!' Gary exclaimed.

'Hm, that is quite an interesting development, I'm not going to make you go to the islands if you feel that your safety is threatened,' Professor Oak relented.

'No, no, it's not that Gramps, I just get a little jumpy sometimes, I'm still going,' he insisted, 'As soon as I pick up what Ash asked me to get, I'll be heading out on the first boat to Hoenn tomorrow morning before I head for the islands.'

'Very well, just step lightly Gary,' Professor Oak warned, 'I've seen some of the battles this girl has been in, she's about as good as I've seen, I don't think many trainers outside of the Elite Four have a chance against her.'

Gary nodded in acknowledgement, 'I know Gramps, I know. You'd have to have a death wish if you wanted to upset the elders of the Carinthia family on purpose, all of them have unrivaled tempers.'

* * *

**Hello, and welcome back!**

**I never realized I'd update five chapters in two weeks but here I am, and I did it. So I figured I'd use this chapter to give a few more hints about Nixie, and develop her character, she is my OC so I thought it was important to give her a little more time to shine. Thank you all who humored me and entered in the little contest I set up, the three winners being:**

**1. Dustin Travis**

**2. Kyndig- who still needs to reply to my message to receive their prize.**

**3. Aussie King**

**But to those who didn't win, I think there's a little explaining to why rock was the correct answer from my minimal clues, Ourea were the children of Gaia in Greek Mythology, who had rein over the mountains. I can understand why some people would get confused between Rock and Ground, but if you'll remember, as stated in earlier chapters, the ground type gym is top five, which means Ash couldn't have challenged it quite yet. Which left Perry's rock type gym as the correct answer.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed: ineedamoreanonymousemail, beastmode456, pikachu0311, AussieKing, Lightningblade49, Kyndig, Bleach2121XX and Dustin Travis.**

**Thank you all for reading, and feel free to drop be a review to let me know what you think of the story so far;**

**~Selina **


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five:

It was sunrise when Ash awoke, it had become a habit of his, he knew he didn't have to, but lately he'd been having trouble staying asleep. He crept out of the room, careful not to wake the others, and walked into the lounge of the Pokémon Centre. Stretching he looked around to find a mostly empty room. No one was there except for the trainers who'd slept on the couches last night, apparently with the Eclipse Island's rising fame the centre's would all be expanded soon to deal with the extra numbers that they hadn't been built to support.

He shook out his arms to loosen his muscles before walking over to the recovery room, glad to see that all of his Pokémon were here now. And he was happy to see Pikachu, already awake, stretching its arms towards him, wanting him to closer.

'Hey buddy, you feeling okay now?'

'Pika Pika,' the electric type chirped happily, 'Pi Pi Pikachu?'

'Couldn't sleep again, I haven't been able to for months remember?' he reminded, giving his partner a scratch behind the ears.

'Pi Pikachu Pi,' it insisted.

'I'm not blaming anyone Pikachu, it's my fault that-' Pikachu swatted him with its tail making Ash give the Pokémon a slightly amused grin, 'Okay, I guess that's blaming someone, but if I'd been a better trainer-'

'Pikachu!'

'Hey, don't strain yourself, you're still injured,' he insisted.

'Pika Pika,' it insisted shaking its head in irritation before getting up and jumping slightly.

'What? You want to train?' he asked.

'Pika, pika!' it insisted loudly.

'You can't till Nurse Joy clears you-'

'Pika!'

'Ash?' came a voice, and Ash turned around to see Nurse Joy standing at the door.

'Yes Nurse Joy?' he asked.

'You can take Pikachu out now, it has a very good recovery speed so it should be fine to train if it really wants to,' she said, clearly finding Pikachu's determination amusing.

'Pika! Pika!' Pikachu cheered, punching its little fists in the air.

'Wow, you are really fired up this morning aren't you?' he asked of the little Pokémon, 'Okay, okay, let's go for a run.'

…

'Do you know where Ash is?' Misty questioned as she came to join the May at the table.

'According to Nurse Joy he's been up since about five, training with Pikachu already,' May explained, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes.

'God knows Ash will always use Pikachu in a rock gym,' Misty laughed, 'Against Brock and Roxanne he did even though it doesn't make much sense.'

'Against Roark as well according to a story Brock told me,' May grinned, 'but when you get this high up in this level of battling, type advantage doesn't actually mean to much does it?'

'It does, but not as much as it does at the beginning of your journey,' Misty shrugged, 'it makes it way for single type specialist like me to be able to make it.'

'Water always seemed like a powerful type to me, I mean two of the biggest contest greats in the world are water type trainers, Wallace as well as Hydra Carinthia are really the only Coordinators with a type specialty.'

'And both are clearly powerful battlers I mean really, Wallace was the Champion up until a few weeks ago, and Hydra is a gym leader here, and in the top five of the Carinthia's as well,' Misty acknowledged.

'Wait isn't Wallace the Champion anymore?' May asked in confusion.

'No, some guy named Steven beat him out last month, he's a steel type trainer but he still knocked Wallace off his throne and by default knocked Sidney clear out of the Elite Four. He's going back to his gym in the ABC Islands now,' Misty explained, 'I thought it would have been big news in Hoenn now.'

'Oh so that's what happened, Dad was annoyed that he was no longer the next runner up for the Elite Four, must be because of Sidney getting knocked out,' May exclaimed in surprise, 'Where did this Steven guy come from?'

'He's the son of the owner of the Devon Corporation; he disappeared on a journey, came out of nowhere and took out the nearest competitor in the Hoenn League with only three Pokémon.'

'Wow,' May exclaimed, 'He does sound really good... wait a second, I think I've met him, did he have an Aggron? A really powerful one?'

'Yeah, he did, you've met him?' Misty exclaimed in surprise.

'His dad took a liking to Max when we were in Rubustro City, and then we met him when he was in Dewford Cave looking for evolution stones,' May said, 'Wow, I didn't realise that a trainer that good was right in front of me and I had no idea!'

'What trainer?' came a curious voice.

Both girls looked up to see Dawn standing there, looking eager to join the conversation and Misty paused before deciding that she shouldn't be rude, 'May met the new Champion of the Hoenn League and had no idea how good he was at the time.'

Dawn shifted into the booth next to May before responding, 'I watched the battle just before the Grand Festival began, he's ridiculously good, he destroyed Wallace, it wasn't easy to watch,' Dawn sighed, 'I mean Wallace was really helpful when I was on a losing streak.'

'Oh yeah, May mentioned that you met him when you were in Sinnoh, when she was telling me about the Wallace Cup,' Misty explained.

'Yeah, everything he did was with an incredible grace and precision, it was amazing to watch him,' Dawn sighed dreamily.

'Maybe his focus on contests was what affected him so much in his battle against Steven,' Misty commented.

'Excuse me?' Dawn asked testily, 'Are you implying that Contest Battling is less powerful than usual battling?'

Misty was about to respond, and probably not overly wisely, but thankfully Nixie showed up, 'Morning Ladies, you're up early enough.'

'Well unlike you we didn't stay up too late last night,' May laughed.

'Hey I'm older than you, I don't exactly have a bedtime,' Nixie insisted stubbornly squeezing in beside Misty.

'Barely, there's what, a year between us?' Misty questioned.

'Fourteen months, and it makes a difference,' she insisted, 'besides, it makes me two and a half years older than May and four years elder than Dawn.'

'Seriously?' Dawn asked, seeming partly put out, she'd known she was the youngest of the girls, but she didn't realise Nixie was that much elder than her.

But Nixie just laughed, noticing her expression, 'Don't worry about it, you're probably more mature than me.'

...

Ash and Pikachu wandered back into the Pokémon Centre, and instantly flopped back down on the couch. They'd been training like mad for the last four hours and were completely exhausted by now. But he hadn't been lying there for long before someone came up to him.

'Ash?' questioned a voice.

'Yeah Brock?' he replied, not even having to open his eyes to see who it was.

'What do you think of Nixie?' he asked.

Ash opened his eyes a crack, to see Brock perched on the arm on the couch looking confused, 'Okay, this is the first time that I've got a question like that off you.'

'I've never felt the need before,' Brock admitted.

Ash sat up, dislodging Pikachu slightly who didn't seem happy with the situation, 'Wow, usually you're pretty consistent.'

'I don't understand her, I can't pin her down,' Brock admitted.

'You not understanding girls sounds pretty much usual to me,' Ash commented.

'Hey!' Brock exclaimed throwing a cushion at Ash, who just laughed.

'Where is this conversation going Brock?' Ash asked.

'I don't even know, Brock sighed, 'We were talking last night, and somethings that she was saying just... I kind of was a little mad, but at the same time...'

'But at the same time?' Ash repeated, raising an eyebrow.

'She hasn't stopped fascinating me for a second,' Brock shrugged, not entirely sure by what he even met by it.

'Wow...' Ash said, oddly one step ahead of Brock in thought.

This was a situation neither of them were used to.

...

'What do you mean we're not leaving today?' Ash asked in shock.

'Simple,' Nixie replied, 'There's no way we could get to any island in the hours of daylight we have left.'

Ash sat, staring at Nixie, Pikachu perched on his shoulder. he and Max had come over to talk to her and see when they were heading out, but now he was very disappointed.

'But I thought-'

'You didn't come in till about ten this morning, we would have had to leave three hours ago if we wanted to get anywhere,' Nixie replied simply.

'Why didn't you tell me last night?' Ash asked.

'I told you to read the bloody handbook and you still haven't,' Nixie replied, 'If you had, you would have known that Perry's gym is equal distance from Tien's island as Aura's is. It would take two days by boat to get there. And I was planning to stop off on Tien's island along the way to stock up on fuel because I don't have enough for the full journey.'

Ash looked disappointed, clearly wanting to have set out already to challenge the next gym as soon as possible, 'It's not a big deal Ash,' Max spoke up, pushing his glasses up his nose, 'It'll give you time to train for the next gym as well as figure out who you're using against Perry.'

'And may I suggest not using Pikachu for once?' came a voice.

They all looked up to see Drew standing there, the usual smirk on his face as Nixie commented, 'Wow, look whose finally awake.'

'I figured if there was anything interesting going on someone would have woken me up,' he said casually, 'You need a better strategy against the Carinthia's Ash, or at least a strategy of some kind.'

'No offence Ash, but he's kind of right,' Max pointed out, 'If things had went even slightly differently against Aura there is no way you would have won.'

'What?' Ash asked.

'If Corphish hadn't evolved, if you're Pokémon hadn't learnt so many new moves, if Muk wasn't as stubborn as it was, or Pikachu or Sceptile hadn't held out, or if Charizard hadn't taken Aerodactyl with it, you probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off,' Nixie said, before everyone looked at her strangely and she said, 'What? Aren't I allowed to have an opinion? It's not like I haven't seen my fair share of battles.'

The boys shrugged and moved on as Ash processed her point, 'Okay, you're probably right, well except about not using Pikachu, it trained really hard this morning and deserves to fight.'

'Then you're going to need to some work on your Iron Tail,' Nixie said scooping up Pikachu off his shoulder and rubbing it behind its ears, 'I do have an idea of a method you could use to train it.'

'You do?' Ash asked looking interested.

'Yeah, it's a way I've seen Aura train before, you know how powerful her Altaria's Iron Tail attack was, we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, I promise,' she assured, 'But let me give you a hand with your training, I have a bit of an idea of what you need to improve on.'

* * *

**Back again everyone! And with an attempt to improve Ash's abilities and training habits ahead, what shall happen next?**

**Thank you to my brilliant reviewers:**

**Lightningblade49- Why thank you, and it shall be a good opportunity, now to calculate when the opportunity should be taken.**

**Pikachu0311- I think more of the point was to develop Nixie's personality rather than reveal her identity, but soon enough more shall be revealed. I can't send you more hints, part of the fun is in the speculation, but I'll be sure to integrate them more heavily into the upcoming chapters. **

**Kyndig- Who knows? She might be.**

**IhateMarySue'sSooooMuch- Well it's _Ash_, so this chapter might answer your question. And the mysterious Gypsprit shall arrive soon enough.**

**So let me know what you all thought off this chapter, I shall update sooner the more reviews I get :D**

**~Selina**


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six:

Ash stood on a beach on Aeolus Island, Pikachu in front of him, staring down Max and Drew who looked far too amused by the scenario. And the fact they were standing with fake guns which shot foam bullets at will. Nixie was sitting on a large boulder, a grin set on her face; this had been her idea to train Pikachu's Iron Tail.

'Now what Max and Drew are holding are rapid firing nerf guns. There was a strange mix up and instead of delivering some souvenirs we had ordered, instead a plane brought about two thousand nerf bullets, but instead of sending them back the Carinthia's decided to put them to a different use.'

'Does it matter if Pikachu breaks them?' Ash questioned.

'No, no, no that's part of the idea, we have about a hundred bullets with us, and as the number increases bit by bit it shows how much Pikachu's accuracy has improved. And as long as they aren't too mangled than the bullets can be put back in the gun.'

'Okay…I think I understand,' Ash said, 'What about you buddy?'

'Pika!' it said, filled with determination.

'Okay, we're ready to go-'

'Rapid fire time boys!' Nixie yelled instantly.

'I'm glad I got out of bed this morning,' Drew announced before pulling the trigger.

There was a smattering of foam bullets from both Max and Drew, who were both laughing their heads off. Pikachu started to move very quickly, tail aglow with power slashing at the foam bullets, trying to hit as many as it could as it possibly could as each one flew towards it. And as both boys ran out of darts, Pikachu landed back on the ground, panting like mad, hoping it had done well.

'Okay Pikachu, let's see how many you managed to hit,' Nixie said clambering down off the rock, 'Boys, collect as many as you can find, if they're intact still, put them in this box, if they're not, put them in this one, and we'll count up how many Pikachu hit through that.'

It took nearly twenty minutes till they were sure they had all of the fragments of the foam bullets, 'Okay, we still have about sixty intact, but that's still really good for a first time. Pikachu, you still hit about forty, which is impressive, in about two minutes. So now we're going to reload them into the guns, the ones that are still whole first so you have time to hit the big ones before focusing on the little ones.'

'Pika, Pikachu!'

'Alright boys, time to go to work.'

…

'That was one of the most creative, yet oddly intense training sessions I've had in a long time,' Ash commented.

'Well the stranger a way you can find to train the more unique it is, that was your style becomes more pronounced and different from anyone else,' Nixie shrugged, 'They say the reason the Carinthia's are so powerful just doesn't stem from genetics, it has a lot to do with the fact they had to find their own way to train because they grew up in such isolation. They didn't have any external influences telling them there was any particular way to train their Pokémon.'

'You know a lot about the Carinthia Family,' Max laughed.

'I was one of their first employees; I've been here since they opened the league two and a half years ago,' Nixie laughed, no one realising for a second how easily she was lying to them, 'I've gotten pretty close to the family and-'

'Nixie!'

A voice yelled across the room, sounding positively alarmed, and everyone looked around to see a surprising sight. On the couches in the middle of the communal area of the Pokémon Centre they'd only just entered, the remainder of their travelling group sat. But there was a surprising guest in Aura who was sitting there, crying her eyes out into her hands. Misty, May, Dawn and Brock, looked like they'd been sitting here for quite a while trying to comfort her, but she seemed completely unresponsive.

Nixie's face was filled with shock, concern and anger all in the space of a split second as she registered the gym leader and what was going on. She raced to her side, forcing Dawn to scramble out of the way as Nixie sat down next to Aura. She pulled an arm around the younger girl's shoulders, shushing her gently, rocking with her back and forth as Aura like a mother would with a small child.

'Hey, hey sweetie, it's okay, tell me what happened,' she said soothingly, but Aura shook her head, continuing to cry, sucking in air like it was hard to breathe, 'Tell me who did this to you so I can destroy them Aura.'

There was a vague tearful laugh at this as Aura pulled her hands down from her face, hugging Nixie tightly, in the most emotional display they'd ever seen from the gym leader. The group watched amazed as Nixie relaxed Aura with the ease of a sister or a parent. Aura eventually calmed down and pushed a fragment of her silver hair out of her dove eyes.

'Sweetie, what happened?' Nixie asked, now that Aura had stopped sobbing.

'...I don't know if Tien told you about a trainer, named Trip?' she asked barely above a whisper.

'So it's him I'm killing, what did he do?'

'I couldn't battle him yesterday when he arrived at the gym because of how my Pokémon were injured in the battle with Ash. But he came back this morning to battle me and... and...' Aura completely broke off.

'How bad was it Aura?' Nixie asked gently.

'I only took out two of his Pokémon, _two_, he practically destroyed me and Altaria…' Aura trailed off again before saying, 'Nurse Joy says it'll be at least a week before it's in any condition to leave the centre, let alone battle.'

A small sob escaped the girl, reminding them for the first time how young she actually was. Nixie motioned for them to give her some space before pulling the smaller girl into her arms and letting her cry some more. The others moved away and eventually Aura stopped and looked at Nixie.

'What am I supposed to do sis?' she whispered.

'This is not your fault Aura; Trip is a brutal trainer by anyone's standards. He doesn't care about sportsmanship; he doesn't care about anyone's feelings but his own. He's selfish, and is determined to be powerful in order to overcome all his shortcomings. There is no reason for you to feel bad just because someone else is a savage who wasn't hugged enough as a child.'

Aura giggled slightly wiping away a tear, 'Thanks, I needed to hear that.'

'Don't forget I practically raised you Aura, I know how to make you feel better and I don't need to lie to you to do it,' Nixie said, gripping her hand.

'How could I forget, no one who knows anything about our family can stop going on about how such a powerful trainer, a member of the top five none the less, is such a ridiculous mothering entity.'

'Quiet Aura, they'll hear you... Look I know I'm ridiculously mothering; someone had to be when our parents disappeared. But don't for a second forget that I'm a mama spider, most of the time harmless, but if someone threatens their young they become the fiercest things in existence. I'm not going to let anyone get away with hurting you.'

Aura's face sank into a true smile as she asked, 'so what do I do now?'

'Well I think this might be a good time to start training with your other Pokémon, make them as strong as you can rather than just focusing on Altaria. There's a big difference in strength between Altaria and the rest of your team, which was one of the things I couldn't help but notice in your battle. So distract yourself with your training, come visit Altaria a couple of times a day to make sure its recovering and send the message out to the others that you need them to suggest other islands than yours when they're helping travellers choose. It's all you can do really Aura.'

The younger girl nodded and squeezed her sister's hand, 'Thanks, you always know what to do.'

'And yet I make most of it up as I go along. Keep your faith strong Aura, your badge is the symbol of faith for a reason little one, you can get through this.'

* * *

**Back once more, happy June everyone, and for all my Australian fans, happy upcoming Queen's Birthday Weekend, except for Western Australia, unfortunately you'll have to wait for September. And for the other nations looking at this authors note, yes, Australia, as a colony celebrates the Queen's Birthday with a long weekend, although, the funny thing is, her birthday is actually in April and has been for over eighty years, but we celebrate it months later!**

**So in this chapter I thought it would be fun to give Ash a few little things to train with, because I barely remember him training in the anime, except for a few stray episodes, plus the month or so he must have spent on Dewford Island. And seeing as I don't quite count battling and training as the same thing, I figured that this would be nice to see. Also we see that Trip's brutality as a trainer is higher than it probably was in the anime, reducing Aura to tears and hospitalizing her partner Pokémon. And as its Nixie to the rescue, we learn a thing or two about her past within the family.**

**Thanks to my lovely reviewers Pikachu0311 and White-Falcon-06 for their feedback, and hopefull I can fulfill your ideas and wishes in later chapters.**

**Can't help but wonder though where my other reviewers are gone though, so I'll send out another question, which many of you seem to like to weigh in on:**

**Within Ash's current group, who would you like to see him battle in the upcoming chapters?**

**Well my darlings, please review and I hope you enjoyed reading:**

**~Selina**


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

'Ash?'

At Misty's voice Ash looked up, the gym leader looked upset, intrigued as well as determined, 'Yeah Mist?'

Misty fiddled with her hands briefly, breathing deeply in the sea air. They were standing just outside the Pokémon centre, Ash had come out here pretty much the minute Nixie had shooed them away from Aura's weeping. She couldn't help but notice Ash's expression though when Aura had mentioned Trip, he looked worse than when she hit him with her mallet.

'I have to ask you something, but I'm pretty sure you're not going to like it,' she said awkwardly.

'Oh come on, since when have I kept anything from you?' he laughed slightly.

'How badly did things go for you against Trip?' she questioned.

Ash recoiled slightly despite himself but he hastily stuck a smile on his face and asked, 'I don't know what you mean Misty.'

'Ash, you saw how Aura was after her battle with Trip. You barely beat Aura but Trip… he destroyed her, and the fact that you won't talk about him or Unova is telling me that something happened,' Misty insisted.

'I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Mist,' he said simply, knowing he was lying through his teeth to his best friend.

'Something happened there, something that made you shut down and stay home for nearly two months,' Misty stated.

'I didn't know about any other leagues,' Ash insisted.

'Yes but you didn't even ask Professor Oak until your mother made you. Besides something happened that made you decide that you couldn't do this journey by yourself.'

'So what I don't want to be alone? Is that an issue, I always have company if you haven't realised-'

'You brought back everyone that you travelled from before, _except_ the people you travelled with in Unova. Who you won't talk about either; I'm not an idiot Ash, I know something is going on!'

'You know what Misty? If you want to know what down between me and Trip, look it up online, it's not that hard to find out!' Ash yelled suddenly, glaring at Misty.

'I'm not going to do that Ash, and you know why? I'm your best friend or at least I thought I was! I'm the one you should be telling these things not sinking further and further into denial. I don't want to have to look up these things because you should be telling me these things!'

Misty looked furious, the moment Ash got frustrated at her she'd always be able to throw it back one worse, but Ash was not in a mood to say anything, 'You're my best friend? Yeah, that's what I thought to, but then again where have you been for the last three and a half years?!'

'Excuse me? I've been running a gym! I had to because my sisters were useless at the time! I never wanted to stop travelling! And you know that! I know you Ash, you know why I had to leave and the only reason you're keeping me out is because you don't want to admit your own failings!'

'You know me? If you know me than you'll know there's a reason why I can't talk about this!' Ash practically screamed at her, 'Stop interfering Misty!'

'You know what? I came here because I thought I could help you! Your mother spent two months calling me asking me to come snap you out of the mood you were in! I gave up my status as the most powerful gym leader in the Kanto region to come help you! Did you know I was in the midst of training to try to earn a spot in the Elite Four? No! Because you are so concerned with yourself that you don't care about anyone else!'

'My _mother_ called you?' Ash asked, barely having registered the rest of the sentence.

'You know what? I don't care anymore! I am not sticking around to be insulted and ignored and tossed aside like I'm nothing to you!' she yelled, 'Be careful Ash Ketchum because if you don't change your attitude I'm going to leave, I'm going to go back home! And that isn't an empty threat!'

…

'Is Aura okay?' Brock questioned.

Nixie looked up and gave Brock a small smile from where she stood helping herself to the food the centre had prepared, 'Yeah, she just hasn't had a loss that bad since the last person who won the league came through, but then again they were less brutal in their strategy.'

Brock shot her a sympathetic smile, 'you handled her well, you must be really good friends to calm her down that quickly.'

'You could say that, she's my little sister as far as I'm concerned,' Nixie shrugged, choosing her words carefully, knowing she'd probably shown far too much familiarity with Aura.

'I know the feeling,' he grinned, 'I practically adopted half the kids I've travelled with over the years.'

Nixie laughed, 'The Carinthia's are a bit of a different case, they're not fond of outsiders, you guys seem to manage to make friends everywhere they go. It's lucky they can accept anyone into the mix of their group, they're so dependent on each other that nearly everything comes down to a family vote.'

'That's ridiculous, organised, but ridiculous, people need to live outside their families,' Brock said.

'Yeah, I get what you mean but they're not like everyone else, they're considered different for a reason. They may seem normal now, but you've only met two of the youngest, the elder kids are worse.'

'So the younger kids are more adjusted?' he asked.

'Pretty much, the others only managed to act like humans because they needed to promote the island,' Nixie said with a shrug.

'What do you mean?'

'Huh?'

'Why did they need to promote the island?' he asked raising an eyebrow.

Nixie frowned before turning around, hand on one hip, biting her lip slightly, 'Do you really want to know?' she questioned.

'Yes… is it that bad?'

'Any turmoil in the Carinthia clan was worsened by this severely,' Nixie warned.

'Is it a secret?'

'Yes and no,' she offered weakly, 'Look, the Carinthia's all were careful not to reveal when they were from when they started to gain attention from the world for their abilities, they didn't want anyone coming to their home, especially seeing as some of the other kids were still very young. But when Asterion, the eldest child, the psychic master and the strongest trainer in the Eclipse League, when he won the Johto League and was set to challenge the Elite Four, he let it slip in an interview not only where they were from but a vague implication of where it was.'

'...Why do I have a feeling that was a really bad thing?' Brock questioned.

'It was really bad, because technically, although the Carinthia's were the only inhabitants of the islands, they didn't actually own them. With no land claim or deed, a company of developers wanted to turn it into a massive chain of hotels and amusement parks. They wanted to take land away for the Carinthia's and well, they couldn't let that happen.'

'So they set up the league to save their home?' Brock asked softly.

'It took months of deliberation to get the International Pokémon League to not only agree to set up the league, but to fight the developers attempt to take over and buy them out. The Carinthia's got their home back but it was on the condition that they kept the league going. Thankfully for them during that time Tien and Perry both became trainers and managed to become skilled enough to be gym leaders. Otherwise it never would have happened.'

'Wait I don't understand-'

'They needed the gimmick of seventeen siblings of the seventeen types, otherwise they wouldn't have seen the point of the league. None of them can do anything more than serve as a gym leader here, and its actually pretty disappointing for them, they can't progress any further than here, which is disappointing because they have more potential than this little place.'

Nixie's long sigh of almost disappointment rang through Brock's ears; it was strange to hear it. He couldn't help but think she shouldn't be disappointed, if the Carinthia's hadn't sent of the league she wouldn't have a job and she wouldn't have them as such great friends. Either Nixie was a better person than he thought she was or had so far proven herself to be, or she wasn't telling the complete truth about what happened, or although he didn't know why he was quite considering it, how she knew the Carinthia's.

…

By the time May found Drew, it was very dark, he'd disappeared after dinner and she figured that she should go find him. She'd been searching for over half an hour when she actually spotted him, and was far from surprised when she found him training.

His Roserade which he'd managed to evolve while they were in Johto was practically glowing in the moonlight as it spun within its shining petals, floating through the air like a leaf in a storm but somehow controlled. May stared in wonder, Drew's contest techniques always amazed her, but she hastily shut her mouth and stopped staring when she realised Drew had noticed her, and had that annoying smirk written across his face.

She scurried down the sand dune and skidded up beside him, 'Not half bad, what are you up to?'

'Training for the Hydra Cup idiot, or have you forgotten that it's one of the very few purposes for us being here,' he teased lightly as Roserade landed in a perfect bow at his feet.

'Considering it for the appeal round?' she asked completely brushing off the comment, she'd gotten used to his comments spending so much time with him lately.

'Yeah, I'm thinking about it, but then again this isn't a half bad dodge,' he shrugged, 'You got any ideas?'

'Sort of, I couldn't help but notice that both Aura and Tien used almost contest like moves every now and then. I can't help but look at their battle styles to find inspiration for what I could try, especially when they're such strong trainers,' May shrugged, 'Still need a little more time to think before I start to actually try out some new attacks.'

'Well than how about a little battle?' Drew asked.

May looked up, 'Pardon?'

'Well, you get inspiration from a battling, and I can't help but notice some of your better ideas come to you when you're on the spot, so let's have a battle,' he smirked, nudging her slightly with his shoulder.

'Okay then! Double or single battle?' she asked enthusiastically.

'Hmm… double?' he questioned.

'Sure thing Drew, get ready to be destroyed,' she laughed.

'Try your worst May, I'm a Grand Festival winner, I'm not going to let someone who only placed Top Four beat me. No matter what circumstances she lost under.'

**Hello all; after spending a few days in the blue mountains I am back with an update and good to go! **

**Now I have to head out the door any minute so I'm going to make it short and sweet, thanks to my wonderful reviewers: **

**LightningBlade49, pikachu0311, Amalgam24, IhateMarySue'sSooooMuch and AussieKing, yes in this version, Trip is a very different trainer, I took into account his rather brutal nature and amplified it so that he'd be a much better rival because although Paul is more powerful, I actually like him so I'm not going to make him into a bastard, suggestions for evolutions and battling pairs will be taken into account, but I did mean when I said who Ash should battle I mean the people he's actually travelling with, Paul and Trip don't count yet, I have plans for them later.  
**

**So cya guys, and please do drop me a review:**

**~Selina**


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28:

May watched Drew carefully across the vague battlefield they'd drawn out with a stick. They hadn't bothered to go get the others, even for the sake of a judge. This was going to be a battle till fainting, it may have not been traditional Pokémon Contest rules, but apart from the lack of points or time limit they'd still be using contest style. And they were usually pretty good at admitting that even if someone else won, that the other would have won on points.

She was glad she'd taken her Pokéballs from the Pokémon centre when she'd left. And she started to consider her options. She had her Blaziken, Wartortle, Glaceon, Delcatty, Ampharos and Medicham with her but she had to consider what Drew was likely to use. Her hand moved to settle on two Pokéballs at her side, and she could see Drew staring just as intently at her from across the field, he was clearly trying to figure out what she would do.

She wasn't entirely sure who he'd come down with for training other than Roserade, but Drew had far more Pokémon than she'd actually realised back when she was travelling with Ash. There was no telling what he would pull out, he had at least one extremely powerful Pokémon from every type, he made a point of it.

'Just go already,' he called, clearly wanting her to go first, and she rolled her eyes and called back;

'Okay, okay... Wartortle, Delcatty, take the stage!'

Ever ready for a performance, her Wartortle tumbled out of its Pokéball, flipping through the air, controlling an Aqua Tail to make a rippling circle of water around it. It landed, balancing on its iconic ears before leaping back onto its feet, and striking a dramatic pose. Delcatty managed to pull a pirouette in the air before landing on its two back feet its tail keeping its balance before it planted its two front legs on the ground.

Drew nodded slightly taking that in before he smiled and drawing back his arm he called, 'Absol, Lunatone, time to perform.'

May looked at Drew's Lunatone and couldn't help but smile. She really considered Lunatone as the symbol of what she and Drew had been through. When she had first come to Johto by herself, she'd never felt more alone, and she was losing all of her contests. But the day after she'd lost her third contest in a row, Drew had found her crying and forced her to get up and go for a walk with him. On top of a mountain, they'd found a circling Lunatone and Solrock dancing across the tree tops, and they'd caught one each and she'd used her Solrock to win her next contest. He'd used his Lunatone to win the Grand Festival alongside his Roserade a victory which he'd insisted he'd claimed for her.

It was nice to see it, standing there, shimmering in the light of the now full moon, as his Absol landed on top of it, giving off its distinctive cry before tumbling to the ground. May smiled at Drew, thinking through what she should try, but Drew barely even hesitated and gave out a command without hesitating.

'Double Shadow Ball!'

Each of his Pokémon formed a ball of black-purple energy and they began swirling around each other and accelerated speed as they zapped towards them. A purple tail started appearing between the orbs giving a strange almost vortex look to it as it hurtled towards May's Pokémon. May had always found the hardest thing about contests was not getting distracted by wanting to watch your opponents move finishing, but she was not going to let her Pokémon get hurt.

'Wartortle, Delcatty, dodge!' she called.

Both Pokémon leaped stylistically out of the way, while May silently thanked Arceus that she'd evolved Skitty back in Johto, it never would have been able to get out of the way so gracefully in its pre-evolved form. It was definitely worth the grief it had taken her to get a moonstone.

'Delcatty, Wartortle, time for an Ice Heart Shatter,' she called.

Drew looked immensely irritated the moment she'd called that move, during her time in Johto the Ice Heart Shatter had become her signature move, and so far Drew was unable to think of a way to beat it. And he had spent hours trying. And the fact that it was so elaborate and yet May pulled it off so flawlessly was a real statement to her ability as a coordinator.

Delcatty let loose a mass of hearts from its Attract attack, which quickly was surrounded as Wartortle went into a careful bubble attack. The field was soon covered in floating bubble-hearts but in one swift move Delcatty used its blizzard to freeze the floating hearts. Drew gritted his teeth, knowing that May was going to get in a hit, and there was nothing he could do to stop her. And out of nowhere May's Wartortle burst through the ice and in a perfect Skull Bash it slammed straight into Drew's Absol sending the dark type skidding along the sand. And in a few more seconds the remaining ice-hearts were being propelled at lightning speed towards his Lunatone as May's Delcatty fired a double slap with such precision that each shot that came sent a sphere straight into Lunatone's face.

As Lunatone hovered back into place and Absol pulled itself to its feet, shaking sand out of its fur, Drew glared at May, 'That last part was new.'

'I call it my winter wonderland twist,' she smirked, 'I was saving it for the final round of the grand festival but unfortunately Harley had to be a little Rattata.'

He shook his head before saying, 'Then allow me to add my own little twist Mayflower,' he teased lightly, 'Absol Psycho Cut, Lunatone Psywave!'

As Absol spun the blade on its head blue disks propelled through the air, quickly caught by the wave of rainbow colours that Lunatone expelled as it glowed blue. It was a beautiful display of lights, but May had to act quick, trying to call out some way to dodge it.

'Delcatty, Wartortle, try to avoid it by lying down!'

'Nice try May, but that's not going to work, Lunatone, Psychic to control it,' Drew replied.

Even as Delcatty and Wartortle buried into the sand, the Psywave/Psycho Cut combo was illuminated in an extra shade of blue as Lunatone manipulated it so it not only crashed straight into May's Pokémon but sent both flying into the air. May sent out a cry of alarm as she saw her Pokémon fly skywards, both scrambling and flailing in alarm and for a second all May could see were the tiny pre-evolutions that she'd raised from when they were practically babies. And she knew she had to do something to gain some ground.

'Come on May, think, think,' she cried out to herself as she saw them fall and suddenly she gained an idea, 'Wartortle, use Water Gun on the ground to gain control of your landing! Delcatty spin and get ready to go into Dig!'

Delcatty nodded sharply and began pirouetting as it plunged towards the ground, its two front paws outstretched in front of it and its tail doing extra spins as it started to look like an actual drill. Suddenly it was obscured from Drew's view though as Wartortle let out a powerful blast of water that completely obscured Delcatty from view even as Wartortle managed to land gently on the ground, Drew was more worried about the Pokémon he no longer couldn't see. He knew May wasn't stupid enough to try to attack Lunatone with its natural levitate ability which meant only one thing.

'Absol, leap skywards, you've got to get out of there!'

But even as the Disaster Pokémon leapt up into the air Delcatty still spiralling appeared out of the earth and flew high enough to slam Absol straight in the stomach. Delcatty ran back to stand with Wartortle, but Absol didn't appear to be getting up.

'Is it out Drew?' May called, sincerely concerned because she knew what it would usually take to knock out one of Drew's Pokémon.

'Absol, are you okay?' he asked to the Pokémon a few meters away, whose eyes were still open from where it lay on the ground.

The dark-type got up restlessly, but it seemed to be acting strange, like it could feel something was happening, but it still turned looking ready to fight, Drew smiled and called out, 'Lunatone, Absol, get ready for fire-flower.'

May frowned, she didn't know what Drew was talking about, but Absol suddenly breathed out a massive fire blast attack. May was stunned and already thinking of a way to combat it, when Lunatone used its psychic attack to shape it into a flower, and May knew she had to act quick before it struck both her Pokémon.

'Wartortle, Hydro Pump!' May called before whispering to Delcatty, 'Get ready for a Solar Beam.'

Wartortle withdrew to its shell before sending out an amazingly powerful Hydro Pump, water spraying from the sockets of its shell, each one striking the petals of the fire-flower with increasing speed. It was certainly wearing the attack down, but it wasn't out until May called.

'Change to Counter Clockwise!'

Wartortle instantly started spinning the other direction which clearly must have taken her a great deal of training to get it to actually work without it popping back out of the shell to change. But the moment Drew's fire-flower was thwarted, and Wartortle landed on the ground, Delcatty released a sudden burst of solar power. The light pierced through the air and struck Lunatone, sending the moon shaped creature back through the air, shaking as its levitate ability forced it to remain airborne.

'Not bad May, but this battle isn't over,' Drew called to the other side of the field, keeping a close eye on Lunatone, before noticing Absol didn't even appear to notice its failed attack, 'What's the matter with you Absol?'

'Sol,' it replied, its strange whistling tone ringing through the battlefield.

Drew frowned, not understanding why the dark-type was so out of it, and went to make sure he was still in this match, 'Lunatone, use Moonlight.'

Lunatone's entire form shone with golden sparkles as it restored most of its health in one go and May looked annoyed. That was why Drew had chosen Lunatone, the moment she'd said a battle till both Pokémon fainted, he instantly agreed. Purely because he knew she'd have a hard time facing a Pokémon that could restore its own health. Typical Drew strategy.

'Now it's time for Signal Beam Lunatone,' he called.

An orb of rainbow light formed in between the two points of its crescent shape, before it fired sending the brilliant colourful aura through the air. It struck Wartortle before May could even get out the words "dodge it." Wartortle scraped along the ground, but the tiny turtle Pokémon managed to force itself back to its feet.

'The Moonlight was a cheap trick Drew,' she said.

'Well you found Corareef's recover so hilarious yesterday that I didn't think you'd mind. Beside's doesn't your Beautifly know Morning Sun?' Drew offered.

May looked furious at Drew's comment before calling out, 'Wartortle, Delcatty, double Blizzard!'

Both Pokémon started expelling ice crystals that jetted across the field and together created a mini snow-storm which she knew would do some serious damage, especially to the now healed Lunatone. Drew called out for Absol to use "Fire Blast" but over the howling wind either the dark-type couldn't hear him, or had chosen not to obey him. Drew too was caught in the Blizzard, what didn't hit his Pokémon was hitting him which although hadn't been May's intention, was certainly an effective tactic. Drew could hear cries of pain from his Lunatone, and that was when he decided he'd had enough.

'Enough May!'

The blizzard ceased, and as Drew brushed snow of his jacket he realised Lunatone had fainted, and he gritted his teeth in irratance before withdrawing the meteorite Pokémon. But that was when he noticed Absol was standing stock still, like it hadn't particularly noticed the blizzard that had rained down on it, not even going to shake the snow of its fur, it just stood there and Drew grew frustrated and yelled out to it.

'What is wrong with you?' he demanded.

But out of no where Absol began to glow and Drew feared for a moment that he'd angered it or it was so badly hurt that it wasn't going to last, 'What did you do to it May?!'

'You idiot!' May yelled, the only one with sense enough to realise what was going on, 'It's not something I did, your Absol is evolving!'

* * *

**So I'm finally back guys;**

**Sorry for taking so long to update, everything's been a little hectic lately but I'm back with a brand new chapter. The reason it took me so long is because its hard to write a contest battle, I think its possibly harder than writing a normal battle because you have to think of how everything looks and make sure it fits with the coordinators style of attacking. I decided to introduce a few more of Drew and May's Pokémon because after spending so long in Johto, I figured that they'd have to catch something, even if some of them were mentioned briefly, be sure that you'll see more of them. **

**Onto the reviews from my four amazing reviewers:**

**Pikachu0311: I like to think Misty's usually right, and maybe Ash will catch on and let her in on what really happened soon enough.**

**Amalgram24: Ooh someone's catching on that Nixie's name might be important, I applaud you but I can't say if you're right or wrong. Ash will have to battle Nixie one day, she's one of the Carinthia's of course he will, but I'd definitely like to see him up against Misty again, maybe it could resolve their little rage at each other. And I'll take into account what you want to happen with evolutions.**

**Guest: I am aware of this, which is part of the reason I got a little bit annoyed when they announced it, but as of yet, I shall be purely ignoring this announcement unless I find some way to integrate it, because to go back and edit the entire story would be taxing and it wouldn't make sense to anyone who didn't go back and re-read it. So like the end of the Black and White Anime series, Fairy type, shall be ignored.**

**AussieKing: Well who wouldn't feel nostalgia, they're both wishing for the past when they could tell each other anything, and so far they're not quite clicking. I definitely took into account what you said, I'd already been planning on using Absol, but your advice made me pick Wartortle, but I decided to stay away from Beautifly and Burtterfree for this battle at least, but they're going to battle again later.**

**Thanks to all my phenomenal reviewers as well as all my amazing readers, and I'll see you next time to reveal Absol's evolution as well as (if the chapter doesn't get to long before it) setting sail and leaving for the next gym challenge.**

**~Selina**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty Nine:**

Drew stared in wonder as he realised what was going on, most of his Pokémon had been caught fully evolved, he wasn't used to them evolving. Especially when he hadn't expected that his Absol would ever evolve. The Eclipse Islands had pulled it out again. Corsola and Absol, both powerful Pokémon in their own right, and now, they were evolving into something which could make them greater than ever.

He could see Absol's body changing, adjusting, its entire form morphing and as the light cleared, he could hardly believe that this was what his Absol had became. A majority of its body had been cleared of the shaggy white hair, leaving it covering its neck, head and a long strip down its spine that lengthened slightly at its tail. The tail itself was a long, coming to a sharp tip and almost seemed like a fin in a way. It still stood on four legs, each with three sharp, white toes, and a large barb sticking out on the back of its legs. A set of shined and polished ebony horns protruded from its head, curling backwards ever so slightly. It was all black and white except for the three ovals of yellow that sat on each side of its torso, and the smaller oval in the middle of its forehead. This was Absol's ultimate form.

As both he and May stared, it gave out a high whistling call, that echoed through the wind, both beautiful and chilling as it turned to look at its master. Its dark face was hidden beneath a fringe of fur, its mouth in a hard line, with one small, white fang protruding on the left side. He saw May vaguely withdraw her Pokémon, she knew that he needed time to adjust, as he slowly approached the newly evolved Pokémon. He bent down in front of it, half kneeling so that they were at the same hight, a small smile settling onto his face.

'Now what am I supposed to call you?'

The dark type let out another whistling sound, nudging its trainers hand, before looking at May who was approaching with obvious care, 'Absol's never say there names, they make a noise that can't be pronounced by humans. And clearly, that trait has been passed on to their evolution. Maybe the Carinthia's have seen this before, if we go to the Pokémon Centre where the other are maybe they can-'

'No.'

Drew's sudden speech took May by surprise, he was staring at his Pokémon, a strange look on his face that May wasn't used to. And the only word she had for it was awe. He smiled gently and lightly stroked the Pokémon's shaggy hair, before turning to look at May.

'We'll go back to the centre, but the Carinthia family doesn't have an answer for this. I already have the perfect name for my new friend. Its my Pokémon May, I have the right to call it what I want.'

May wasn't sure where this change in Drew's attitude came from, but she hadn't seen him in this mood before. She couldn't help but like it in a way. He continued to brush his hands over the beautiful fur that seemed to reflect the moonlight in a strange sort of way, and she couldn't help but ask as she crouched down beside it, and asking quietly.

'What's the name?'

And with a soft smile he turned to her and said a single word that she knew was the only word that truly fit the magnificent creature.

'Absydian.'

...

It was strange in the Pokémon Centre, the group which before had seemed pretty set in its interactions was now seeming to have completely changed dynamics. Misty and Ash didn't seem to be talking to each other, with Ash moodily picking at a plate of food and Misty snapping an elastic band against her wrist for what was clearly an anger management technique. Brock and Nixie seemed incapable of stopping talking to one another now that they'd started, with both chatting away about what didn't seem to be overly important, but it was interesting to them. May and Drew had been gone for hours. And this left Dawn uncomfortably sitting by herself because Max was battling one of the local kids.

Dawn wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing, she couldn't help but notice that the group was falling into very obvious pairs. And she wasn't part of one. She couldn't help but wonder what was the difference between her and the other girls she was travelling with, because each of them seemed to have no trouble getting a guy's attention. So she couldn't help but think silently about what they had that she didn't.

Nixie was the easiest to see what the difference was, she had this strange allure and exoticness to her that a small town girl like Dawn just couldn't pull off. May had an almost perfect balance of both girly and not that made her easy for anyone to talk to and get along with. And then there was Misty, and she was who Dawn felt herself in the starkest contrast to.

Misty was head-strong and stubborn, without a particularly girly trait to her personality, but not so outrageously against it that it was off-putting or she seemed a little butch. Misty never seemed to be unsure of what was going on, or what she should do, everything was on an impulse and it seemed to work out for her, but Dawn was all to conscious of how things usually went personally if she didn't plan things out to the letter. Misty had this strange mothering thing to her, that she managed to seem sweet and kind until the moment you got on her bad side, where she could tear you apart in two seconds flat. Misty had no trouble standing up for herself, and Dawn couldn't even protest against the negative things she thought about herself.

'You okay Dawn?' piped up a voice.

Dawn smiled as Max came over to her, 'Yeah, I'm fine, just lost in thought a bit, how'd your match go?'

When Dawn had met Max, she'd felt close to him immediately. She'd never had siblings of her own and she already felt like Max could be her own little brother she liked him that much. And seeing as everyone else had been pairing off, she and Max had a lot of excuses to talk to each other.

Max grinned brightly at her and said cheerfully, 'I won.'

'Oh Max that is so great,' she said happily, ruffling the younger boys hair.

Max grinned brightly, 'Well it was close, but Ralts really came through for me. Where's May? I want to tell her about my match, I tried some of the things she told me about and I wanted to tell her about-'

'Sorry Max, May's been gone for about two hours, she said something about looking for Drew but she hasn't come back,' Dawn apologised, and she felt even worse when she saw Max deflate slightly, 'You know what, I'll give her a quick call on my Pokégear.'

'Thanks Dawn,' Max exclaimed brightly, and Dawn smiled, knowing that Max really did want to blab to his sister for as long as he could before she found a way to change the subject.

Dawn pulled out her Pokégear and dialled the number, and waited for a good thirty seconds till May picked up, 'Hello?' came May's voice as her face came up on the video screen.

'Hey May, where abouts are you? You've been gone for a while,' Dawn asked.

'Oh, I went looking for Drew, but we kind of got caught up, we're walking over now, but we've got a bit of a surprise for you guys.'

'What kind of surprise?' Dawn couldn't help but ask, unable to help notice May's cryptic tone.

'Oh you wouldn't believe it till you see it, we'll be there in five Dawn, cya.'

May ended the call, and Dawn stared at her Pokégear for a moment, looking slightly weirded out. Max smiled happily and settled into his spot beside Dawn, he hadn't thought it sounded anything other than normal to Dawn. But the Sinnoh native had heard a different message in May's phrasing.

'Dawn, you're doing a Stunfisk face, what's up?' Nixie called, having finally turned her attention away from her conversation with Brock.

'Just May's phrasing... she and Drew got "caught up" and "we've got a surprise" and "you wouldn't believe it till you see it"... if it was anyone else but those to I'd say-' Dawn explained but Nixie looked thrilled.

'I _so_ hope they've cut the crap and just gotten together already.'

Brock looked up in surprise, 'Wait you saw that to?'

'How could I not? They're perfect!' Nixie babbled.

'Oh thank god, I just thought it was me who thought that,' he laughed.

'Oh I'm pretty sure everyone can see it except for them,' Nixie giggled.

'See what?' Max asked, still looking confused.

'You'll figure it out soon enough, you're a smart kid,' Dawn smiled, knowing she probably shouldn't tell Max until they were sure that was what Drew and May's "surprise" was.

'Oh in my experience, the dumber the kid the earlier they start to think about those sort of things,' Nixie said innocently, before shooting a look at Brock who looked seriously offended.

'Shut up Nixie-'

'Hey everyone,' came a voice, and everyone turned to see May walk in, followed by Drew, and they all noticed how close she and Drew were standing together.

Nixie looked like Christmas may have come early, until both May and Drew exchanged a smirk, and suddenly both moved apart to reveal the Pokémon that had been standing behind them. The loud whistling pierced the air, as what used to be Absol struck a dramatic pose, all to clear it had been raised by a coordinator from just that. Nixie fell backwards off the couch she'd been sitting on, but Brock lit up and ran over to examine the new Pokémon, closely followed by Max and Dawn.

'Meet Absydian,' Drew said proudly and smugly.

'Its gorgeous,' Dawn complimented, practically melting over the dark type.

Brock was examining it with a look he only got in what they referred to as his breeder mode. Max looked excited by the whole thing in general. Misty and Ash, quickly got up and came over to get a better look, although neither was talking or even looking at the other. But Nixie stayed back with a positively bizarre look on her face.

'What?' Drew asked noticing the look and seeming to be looking for any reason she could protest agains this Pokémon.

'Um...'

'Do you have a problem?' he asked defensively.

'No, not at all...' Nixie replied, seeming like she was suppressing a whole influx of emotions.

'Clearly you do-'

'No, no, its just... I've seen an evolved Absol and it looked nothing like this,' she said eventually.

'What?'

'It must be a branched evolution, I mean we've had alternate evolutions, but not two that were discovered just in the islands before, well except for the eeveelutions but I'm not sure if that counts,' Nixie replied, '...Ah, Duska, the ah, Carinthia who uses dark types, she has an Abyssl, that's what she called hers, but it looked nothing like that.'

'What did it look like?' Brock asked curiously.

'Well kind of like a regular Absol, but... tougher, the hair was longer, especially around its neck, it had a bit of a mane, and also it had a lot more black horn things attached to it, had one for a tail, one attached to its head, and it also had some horn things on the back of its legs, like that one has just longer and blacker... its kind of hard to describe, you'll need to look it up.'

Nixie's explanation was hesitant and carefully worded, but no one seemed to notice how careful she was being with her phrasing. Like she didn't want to appear too familiar. But Drew smiled, still admiring his new Pokémon.

'Well you're one of a kind Absydian,' he laughed.

'You should be proud, not too many people have what it takes to bring forth an entirely new species from hibernation,' Nixie smiled, before changing the subject slightly, 'Okay everyone, just remember not to stay up too late tonight, tomorrow we set sail for Ourea Island.'

* * *

**Hello Readers;**

**Well with a weekend away, work placement and school camp, I haven't had as much time as I'd have liked in the last few weeks to write, but here is my new chapter and I'd love to know what you think of it. Although it wasn't all too eventful, I hope you enjoyed meeting Absydian, a brand new member to the Pokémon family. Absol's evolution was guaranteed as a prize after Kyndig placed in the 10000 views contest, but I've had requests for an Absol evolution from as early as Chapter 17 I think, and it seems like a popular choice for what people want to evolve.**

**As it is currently one thirty in the morning, I need to hit the hay, but I'd just like to quickly thank my amazing reviewers, Kyndig, Amalgam24, Pikachu0311, IHateMarySue'sSoooomuch, S, Aussieking and Chunnin33, thank you all so much for reviewing, all of your ideas and suggestions and comments are all been taken into account and definitely keep sending me more ideas, I love hearing from anybody with an input.**

**So see you all soon, ta ta for now.**

**~Selina**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30:**

As the boat set out from the dock, the sun was still rising on the horizon. May was taking a vague nap in the room under the deck unable to take the early start. Drew and Dawn had started to talk about some of their favourite coordinators to distract her from her usual sickness which currently she'd taken pills for. Brock was sitting with Max teaching him about the right sort of nutrition for his Ralts. Nixie was driving the boat obviously. Ash and Misty were still not talking to each other, with Misty sitting on the bow of the ship staring out over the ocean, and Ash staring behind him moodily at the island, paying very little attention to Piplup and Pikachu playing around his feet.

Nixie frowned at the tension between the group and called down to Misty, 'Hey Mist, want me to teach you how to drive this thing?'

Misty smiled, and clambered around the side to get to the top section, even as Drew called out, 'Oh that is no fair-'

'Shut up Hayden,' she shouted back.

He looked irritated but went back to talking to Dawn, but as soon as Misty came up to the platform where Nixie was standing, she realised that Nixie was not going to teach her how to drive her boat, 'What is this about?'

'Observe me driving Misty, while we talk,' Nixie replied in a slightly lowered tone.

'Talk about what?' she asked defensively.

'Clearly you had another spat with Ash, and don't even try to deny it Misty,' she began.

'I wasn't going to deny it, but what about it, he's a jerk, always has been, I should be used to this,' she said irritably.

'Misty, I'm just going to take a rough stab about what the fight was about and say it was the fact that he won't talk about Trip or what happened in Unova,' Nixie assumed.

Misty looked stunned before saying shakily, 'Yes, it was, how did you know?-'

'It's written all over Ash's face, Misty, I got the vague gist of what happened simply from his standing in the Unova League, and after seeing Aura's hysterics yesterday, can you really blame him for not wanting to talk about when it was Trip who he lost against in the first place?'

'...He lost against Trip in the Unova League?' Misty asked, 'Is that it? He doesn't want to admit he was beaten? Does he really care so much about his pride that he doesn't want to admit to a bad loss-'

'I'm not saying that's it Misty. You know him better than anyone else here except maybe Brock, but you've always known him on a different level. It's not just you that he's not telling, he's not telling _anyone_. Something more than a loss in a league must have happened. Have you noticed that he hasn't been using any of his Unova Pokémon in the gym battles? He hasn't even _mentioned_ any that he caught over there; don't you think that's weird?'

'I guess that's weird, but still-'

'But nothing, be patient with Ash, he's a good guy, and he cares about you a lot. Something has messed with him severely. If he tells anyone it's most likely going to be you. You just have to remember that you and him have barely seen each other for the last four or so years. Make sure that you still know him on the same level you used to, and then ask him.'

Misty felt a wave of shame cloud over her, and she turned back to look at Ash who seemed completely out of it, as he stared over the stern out to the ocean. She knew him, she knew him enough that she knew she had to realise that if Ash was hiding something from anybody, it had to be pretty bad. He was such a straight forward person usually that even if he didn't trust her like he used to, he would have told her anyway even if it was embarrassing or hurt his pride. He didn't have any shame about anything, this was a guy who once cross-dressed to be allowed to battle in a Pokémon Gym, and for a month straight would tell the story to anyone who would listen. If he wasn't telling anyone about it... it must have been too horrible for him to process.

'You finally get it, don't you? Why he stayed home for two months? Why he can't talk about anything that happened over there? You understand why.'

Misty heard Nixie's statements; they couldn't be considered questions with the tone she was receiving. The guilt clouded over her when she realised how selfish she had been. All she had been thinking about was how Ash not talking about it was affecting her. She hadn't thought for a second about why other than what he might be blaming her for.

'He asked us all to come travelling with us because he needed to feel safe, he needed to feel comfortable,' Misty said after a long moment, 'He was scared of failing, and all I did was scream in his face and bring up old wounds. He needed me to understand so he could process what was going on... and I essentially abandoned him.'

She could feel tears bordering on the edge of her eyes but she didn't let them fall. She'd given Ash so much grief because he hadn't talked to her for so long, she hadn't realised he'd only stopped e-mailing her regularly when he got to Unova, something happened there. Something that he wasn't able to talk about and she'd been such a bitch about it.

'Arceus what have I done?' she whispered after a long moment.

Nixie gave her a hard look before shrugging simply, before commenting, 'Do you want to learn how to drive this thing or not? If I'm taking you guys all over the islands you might as well learn... Unless you're not staying Misty?'

Misty looked at Ash one more time before she gave Nixie a determined look before saying, 'I'm staying. I'm not going to let down a friend when they need me.'

...

'Welcome back to Tyche Island everyone,' Nixie grinned as she clambered down the ladder and onto the dock, fixing the boat to the pier, 'We're half way there, tomorrow morning we'll get to Ourea, it's impossible to do the whole trip in one day.'

Everyone grinned and started hopping off the boat, thanking Nixie as she went, 'Well Dawn,' Drew said helping her off the boat politely, 'You managed to make it through the trip without getting sick, congratulations.'

Dawn flushed slightly, 'Thanks Drew, the distraction was really helpful.'

'Sure it wasn't just the double dose sea sickness tablets you took?' Misty laughed, but the look on her face assured Dawn she didn't mean it cruelly.

Dawn made a bit of a face and Nixie spoke up slightly, 'Oh by the way guys, I told Tien we'd have dinner with her tonight if you don't mind.'

'Of course we don't,' May said brightly, 'Tien is such a sweetheart.'

'Plus it'll give Ash a chance to try to get her to slip up and say something about Perry,' Misty said cheerfully, trying to act normal around Ash.

'Why would I need to do that?'Ash asked seeming genuinely confused.

'Tien is Perry's twin, no one would know him better than her, it's like how back in Mossdeep City Liza knew exactly how to beat Tate,' Max explained.

'...Oh right, that makes sense, thanks for the idea,' Ash said, 'Wait Nixie, you can still give me a hint or two right?'

Nixie thought for a second and said, 'Look, the only thing I am telling you is his signature Pokémon alright? And not to expect to fight a legendary, it's all I'm willing to tell you, okay?'

'Okay, okay, what's his partner Pokémon?' he questioned.

'A Tyranitar,' she said shortly, 'and he's been working on breeding them so you're going to have a tough time trying to figure out something that he doesn't know about them.'

Ash didn't have a chance to respond before Brock cut in, 'He's trying to breed them?'

'He's succeeding, Lavitar and its evolution line is a very rare species and he's working on raising the population of them globally,' Nixie explained.

'Wow, that's amazing... I didn't realise he was a breeder,' he said seeming impressed.

'Perry's always been a little tamer than some of his brothers, he's not professional by any means, none of the Carinthia's are, but apart from Vidonia and Tien he's probably the closest to it,' Nixie explained, 'You might want to use the next few days to find out from Tien and Perry what they do breeding wise, their nothing on Vi but still, they've learned from the best.'

'Wow, this'll be great way to learn all that I can.'

The look on Brock's face had gotten so ecstatic that Nixie couldn't help but laugh, 'Okay Brock, clearly this means a lot to you, so as soon as we get to the Hydra Cup, I'll introduce you to Vi, she's in charge of the entire Island's breeding program.'

'You will?' he asked excitedly.

'On one condition,' she grinned.

'Anything, I gotta learn all that I can-'

'Don't have a love attack, she'll kill you before I can even start to tell you off,' Nixie warned.

'Someone with a worse temper than you? Now that is impressive,' Drew drawled interrupting their conversation.

'So Perry's got a Tyranitar,' Ash said getting to the point, 'Isn't that sort of... almost legendary?'

'It has stats that could rival a legendary Pokémon, yes, the term you're looking for Ash is pseudo-legendary,' Max explained.

'Okay, that's going to be difficult to get past... I think I'm going to have to use Infernape for this,' he said after a long moment, 'I mean it is a fighting type and with Tyranitar being partially dark that's going to get a lot of damage in.'

'What about your Scraggy Ash?'

Ash blanched slightly and looked at Brock, 'Scraggy?'

'Yeah, you e-mailed me at one stage when you were in Unova, you were asking for advice on how to handle the egg, and you told me about it when it hatched, couldn't you use that as well for the type advantage?' Brock asked, having not noticed Ash's unease, 'I'd love to see some of the Pokémon you caught in Unova.'

Ash was clearly struggling to answer when Misty seeing him freeze up hastily stepped in, 'Well I'd say consider it Ash, but your Infernape is a third stage evolution, it's naturally more powerful than Scraggy. Plus throw in its lower level of experience if it's still newly hatched it might be better to give it some intense training before you use it against a Carinthia.'

Ash looked gratefully at Misty before saying to cover his freeze up, 'That's a good point, I'll see, I'm still not quite sure what my plan is yet, I'll figure it out after I see if I can get anything else out of Tien tonight.'

Brock nodded, if he'd noticed Ash's reaction, he'd chosen to ignore it. Nixie called for them all to follow her up to the Pokémon centre, and they all ran after her except for Ash who stopped Misty quickly.

She looked at him curiously, 'Yeah Ash?' she asked.

'Thanks and... sorry,' he replied after a long moment, 'When I snapped at you yesterday-'

'I'm sorry too Ash. It's okay, really,' Misty told him gently, 'Come on, let's find Tien and get some dinner, it's you so you must be starving by now.'

'Am I ever!'

'Go figure.'

...

Gary stood on the dock of Slateport City, thinking hard, he had a three day boat ride left to the Eclipse Islands. All he could think about was how hard it was to be going back there. Especially knowing that whether he liked it or not he was going to be confronted with the Carinthia's the moment he got there.

Nixie. He couldn't even understand where she'd gotten a name like that. It made very little sense to him frankly. But she was travelling with Ash, and he knew it meant getting his throat ripped out if he told Ash who she really was. He had very little hope that she wouldn't injure him purely because he was her little sister's ex-boyfriend.

He just couldn't understand how Ash or anyone else in their travelling group hadn't recognised "Nixie." She was a three time league winner, and they didn't know who she was. She'd been serving as a Champion before she'd stepped down to save the islands from developers. She was world famous as the expert in her type specialty. And the person who he knew for a fact spent his entire childhood glued to the TV screen watching league battles couldn't recognise her. How was he supposed to keep something secret when most of the world already knew about it?

* * *

**Back once more my lovely readers;**

**I know I said we'd get to the next island this time, but I remembered that Nixie's supposed to be stalling to get there, besides, it would take her two days to get to Ourea Island by boat anyway... I have this way too planned out.**

**Okay, I have one question for you all, which of Ash's old rivals should make their grand re-enterance? **

**For the most part I'm going to rule out those from Unova, as I don't think I've watched enough of the BW saga to write them properly, which is why I changed Trip, but anyone else is definitely fair game. I've set up a poll on my profile, which gave everyone a choice from Ritchie, Tyson, Angie, Morrison, Harrison, Casey, Barry and Angie, be sure to vote there, as well as sending it in on a review, and if you suggest anyone that I've forgotten, I'll be sure to add it on, but I think I should have enough to play with, and don't think just because their not the first one I show that I've forgotten about them, I love them all, and chances are a majority of them will be featured.**

**I'd also love to thank my five lovely reviewers, Amalgam24- glad you think so, it took a lot of brain power and stalking fan art to find a name like that and as for Dawn she might go through a period of loneliness but I'm doing my best to incorporate her into the group, Chunnin33-Why thank you it kind of just felt right to give Absol a branched evolution, Intensity215- Well this made my day I'm really glad you're enjoying it and can't wait to see what you think of what is to come, Kyndig- sure will thanks for your continued support, and Aussieking- That's actually a really cool idea I might have to wait a while to introduce the dark type gym leader but it would be a lot of fun though I might have to do a bit of research to distinguish the two it could be a really fun chapter and as for the description glad you like it, I modified some fan-art that I found, and if there's any discrepancies be sure to check the new cover.**

**Well thanks so much for all of your support, and don't worry, next time, no matter how long the chapter gets, I shall make sure we get to Ourea Island. Don't forget to vote on the poll.**

**Enjoy my lovelies, and please review.**

**~Selina**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31:**

'Tien!'

No one was quite surprised when the moment Nixie saw Tien across the street she ran and practically tackled her over in a hug. Tien was laughing as she embraced the elder girl, burying her head in her shoulder almost hidden beneath her wavy brown hair before she stepped back and smiled at her, bright blue eyes glowing with happiness.

'Wow, I haven't seen you in such a good mood for months,' Tien laughed.

'Oh I think I needed a change of scenery,' Nixie said innocently.

'Yeah, _that's_ why you're in a good mood,' Tien replied clearly not believing it, 'Hey everyone, how've you been?'

Everyone grinned and greeted Tien, and Ash proudly pulled out his badge case, 'I won my Aeolus Badge!'

'Great to hear about Ash, Aura told me that it was one hell of a battle,' Tien giggled.

'Yeah, I can definitely see why the Eclipse League is so hard, I've only faced two trainers and already they're tougher than some of the strongest gym leaders I've faced,' he laughed.

'I have a feeling we're getting the full experience the islands can offer, both Drew and I had Pokémon who evolved her that we didn't think could,' Misty explained, touching almost sub-consciously the Pokéball at her hip.

'Really? Which ones?' Tien asked curiously.

'Corsola and Absol,' Nixie replied.

'So a Corareef and an Abyssl, that's really great, we haven't had to many of those yet-'

'Not an Abyssl, we call this one and Absydian,' Nixie corrected.

Tien looked confused before she brightened, looking excited, 'The evolution is branched?' she asked curiously looking over at Drew.

'Apparently so,' Drew laughed, 'It's an amazing creature, any chance you have a picture of the other one, just for reference?'

'Yeah definitely,' Tien said before pulling out a small device and starting to flick through it, 'Have you called Chromia yet Nixie?'

'Yeah, she wasn't too happy when I told her she'd have to adjust the numbers again, but then again the moment I showed her the picture I took of Absydian she practically swooned,' Nixie laughed.

'It's not too hard- she's already put it in there, number one seventy five, Absydian... she's even nicknamed it the Oracle Pokémon, typical Chromia, but this really is a beautiful creature.'

'Sorry but we're a little confused here,' Dawn offered deciding to speak up.

'Oh right, Chromia the steel type gym leader, bit of a mechanics/computing whizz, she's been working on the documentation of the new types of Pokémon appearing here. And eventually she got bored with having to redo everything the moment a new Pokémon was found she created the Eclipse Dex which is what Tien's using to find a picture of-'

'Found it,' Tien said interrupting Nixie, 'Here, number 174, Abyssl, the Omen Pokémon, only one of its kind known, currently in the ownership of my sister Duska.'

Drew looked at the Pokémon on his screen, May and Brock both peering over his shoulder before Brock commented, 'It looks like a battling machine.'

'Yeah, I'm really glad that whatever I did made me end up with an Absydian, it would be hard to adjust my style for... that,' Drew admitted.

'It certainly looks powerful though,' May whispered in awe.

'It might have something to do with how a trainer raises a Pokémon to be,' Tien offered, 'I'll put Vi onto it, she'll see what she can find out.'

'Speaking of that,' Brock spoke up hastily, 'I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about the breeding program you have here.'

Tien smiled brightly at Brock, 'Sure, ask me anything, but in the mean time, I'm starved and we have reservations.'

...

In a cute little noodle place on the shores of Tyche Island, the large group sat digging into the food that the owner had given them on the house purely because he was one of Nixie's friends. No one could fail to notice that Misty and Ash were back to usual, with Misty teasing him for pigging out and him being somewhere between dismissive and amused about it. Dawn and Brock were trying to guess the ingredients in a satay dish they were both sharing. May and Drew were laughing about when Max had visited them in Johto and ended up knocking over a waiter spilling the dishes he'd been carrying onto Harley, while Max remained unsure of whether to be embarrassed or proud that he'd managed that. Nixie and Tien seemed to be laughing about something involving one of the Carinthia's irrational fears of Natu.

Eventually when they had finished up their entree dishes, and waiting for the main course, Ash decided to take Misty's suggestion and try to ask Tien about her brother, 'So Tien, did Nixie tell you where we were headed?'

'Well even if she didn't it wouldn't have been hard to guess, there isn't much point swinging by here unless you were going to battle Perry,' Tien laughed, mopping her lips with her napkin.

'I really look forward to it, and I hope to do it as soon as I can, there isn't anything that would stop him battling me right?' he asked.

'Doubt it, Perry'd love the escape, there's a kid who won't leave him alone, he's trying to get rid of her but seeing as she somehow forced him into agreeing to take her as his plus one to the Hydra Cup, it's not likely to happen any time soon,' Tien laughed.

'Wow, she's persuasive,' Drew smirked.

'From what I hear there are girls competing over that slot like mad for a Carinthia boy's plus one,' Dawn was laughing.

Tien laughed, 'I guess for most of them yes, but not exactly Perry. He's only thirteen remember, he's barely hit puberty and my other brothers are considered "more of a catch," whether there annoying as hell or not.'

There was a burst of laughter from Nixie and May, as well as a wry grin from Brock, 'The curse of being the youngest huh?' Max offered.

'Something like that,' Tien smiled, 'But honestly, Perry's a sweetheart, he'd rather draw Pokémon then battle with them.'

'So his hearts not in it?' Ash asked.

'Oh it is, just not all of it, it's like me, I'm still not sure what I want to do really, but I guess it makes it easier for me to be channeled one way now. I mean my not everyone in my family were necessarily the biggest fans of battling, they all had different interests before we set up the league. Contests, battling, studying or breeding, or even nothing in particular. I'm almost glad I didn't have time to travel so I could choose, I mean really, it would be harder to no what I love to do and have to give it up.'

Drew frowned, not quite understanding, 'What do you mean by that?'

'You're a coordinator right?' Tien asked.

'Yes, I am, why?' he questioned.

Tien gave a weak half smile and began to explain, 'Hydie was going to be the greatest coordinator the world had ever seen. The first person in generations to win all the ribbon cups in successive years, it was going to be her claim to fame. She already had three ribbon cup wins under her belt. She took on a Pokémon league for the fun of it and won the league, though she never challenged the Elite Four. She went back to being a coordinator full time and with a few months left to the grand festival and what she was sure was going to be her fourth title, she had to stop and come serve as a gym leader here. She had all these plans and soon enough they were over. It's why she's hosting her own cup here, she wants to be able to see a contest again. And even if she can't compete in it, she can at least judge right?'

Tien gave a slight laugh, and Nixie looked unnerved at the story she'd told, looking around as if to see where the waiter was with their food. But everyone else had fallen silent, not sure how to react. May, Dawn and Drew all looked crushed, they all idolised Hydie in some way, and to realise that she'd given it all up to be a gym leader was something they couldn't quite comprehend. Brock got a strange look on his face, he may have been the only one who knew why Hydie had to come back to the islands, but it didn't make it any easier to comprehend. Max looked shocked, but his understanding was backwards to May, he couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want to become a gym leader, especially in a place like this. And Ash just seemed side-swept by the insight to the Carinthia family.

'I understand,' Misty said eventually.

'You do?' Nixie couldn't help but ask.

'I loved travelling around when I was a kid, but I had to come back to take care of the gym when my sisters had to leave it for a time. I was crushed when I found out, I wanted to run away so I wouldn't have to go back and take care of the gym. But eventually I realised that it was my responsibility to my family to take care of it, even when they returned, I knew that it was what I had to do, I had to stay.'

'Wow... Hydie is going to love you,' Tien almost laughed.

'My sisters know her, I've never met her personally,' Misty shrugged, 'All I know is that she's a phenomenal trainer, I didn't know till I got here that her real interest was in contests.'

'Well she won't have to miss it for to much longer,' Dawn spoke up, 'From what I hear, depending on the success of the Hydra Cup, they might let her set up a contest circuit here.'

'When did you hear that?' May asked in surprise.

'Well I was talking to Mr Contesta, asking about our invitations to the Hydra Cup, which for some reason my computer took as spam. I e-mailed him asking about it and we got talking and he told me that the Contest Circuit Commission was considering it. Hydie was a great coordinator and they think she could handle it, especially with how fleeting her gym challenges are.'

'Hydie would love that,' Tien blurted out, 'I mean really, I don't see why she just doesn't go out and compete again. Really, the top five haven't been challenged in the last six months. Mostly because of Lectron and Malina admittedly, but they'd be able to travel around without problems as long as they were ready to come back at short notice. Her own contest circuit... oh my god Nixie, imagine the spectacle her Grand Festival would turn out to be!'

Tien was laughing her head off and Nixie was grinning like an idiot, 'Good for Hydie, I'm glad you have an insight into this Dawn.'

...

It was still sunrise when Nixie awoke to a knock on the door, and clambering out of bed she came to answer it, 'Yes Nurse Joy?' she muttered sleepily.

'There's a call for you down at the front desk, I wasn't sure whether to come get you, especially seeing as they were asking for you by-'

'My real name?' Nixie asked flinching.

'Yes, I'm afraid so, do you want me to tell them you're still asleep or-'

'No, I'll come get it, just a second,' she replied grabbing her dressing gown from the back of the door and running down stairs after the nurse.

But as she picked up the phone, and hit the video call button, much to her surprise she was confronted with the face of Trip, 'Hello there Miss Carinthia,' he drawled.

'What the hell do you want Trip?' she demanded, 'You think I'm in any mood to play games after what you did to Aura?'

'My problem is that I don't know if this league is worth my time, especially when I made your poor, innocent sister cry like a baby,' Trip said tonelessly.

'Don't you dare say that about her you little creep-' Nixie hissed but he interrupted.

'I want to battle you.'

'Come again?' Nixie asked, 'You know perfectly well-'

'That you're top five and I can't challenge you until I beat your twelve incompetent siblings?' he asked, 'I am perfectly aware.'

'Don't call them incompetent-'

'Thing is the idiot who calls me his rival, doesn't know who you really are and neither do his pathetic little boonie friends. Strange how they can't even recognise the person who used to serve as a Champion,' he replied and Nixie saw the threat before it came.

'If I don't battle you, you're going to tell them, aren't you?' she asked.

'Oh so you do see how this blackmail thing works. I just want a battle, one on one, nothing more. I'm not after a badge _Nixie_ I just need proof that this league is worth my time,' he said, the clear mocking in his tone at the pseudonym she'd used all too obvious.

'...Where do I meet you?' Nixie asked after a long moment.

'Ourea Island. I know that's where you and you're little friends are headed. At midnight on the day you arrive, we will have our little battle, behind the Pokémon Centre. And if you do that, then no one needs to find out about your real identity.'

'Fine. I'll do as you ask. But Trip promise me one thing.'

'And what is that?' he asked.

Nixie gave a soft leering smile at him, and said simply, 'When I crush you into the ground like the little insect you are, don't try to do anything to spite me for it. It won't work,' before she hung up.

...

On the boat to Ourea Island, the group was content as the sun set on the horizon, but Brock was worried, and couldn't help but lean over to Misty and ask, 'Has Nixie been quiet today or is it just me?'

'Oh come on, we barely know the girl, it mightn't be to weird at all,' the red-head shrugged, looking up from where she'd been staring at her Seadra who she'd let out for some exercise.

'So you do admit that she's been quieter than usual,' Brock acknowledged.

'I guess, but for all we know she's been louder than usual the last week,' she reminded.

'I guess so... it just seems strange,' he admitted.

'Is that Ourea Island?' came Dawn's voice, the bluenette leaning over the railing.

'Sure is Dawn,' Nixie called down, speaking for the first time in hours, 'We'll be on dry land soon enough.'

But as they got closer to the island and they began to be able to see the pier, Ash squinted into the distance, 'Someone's standing on the dock, we don't have a welcoming party or something do we? They're waving at the boat.'

But Nixie took one look at the person on the dock and seemed to instantly know who it was, 'Perry!' she exclaimed, 'Misty take the wheel!'

And without a second warning, Nixie kicked off her shoes and dived into the water, paddling her way to the shore.

* * *

**Once again I am back, with yet another chapter, freshly finished at noon rather a one in the morning for a change! Even if it didn't get posted till later, it was done and written with an awake mind!**

**So I've reached 100 reviews readers, did you notice? Isn't it amazing? I was so happy when I realised, and let's thank the reviewers who have helped me get there in the last chapter:**

**Amalgame24: I couldn't have them fighting for too long. And as for what happened in Unova, only further chapters will reveal the full extent of what happened to Ash there.**

**Selene's Daughter: That's a great idea, it would be a lot of fun to bring in gym leaders from other regions.**

**Intensity215: Thank you, and soon enough you will know!**

**White-Falcon-06: He'll show soon, but it is a long boat ride, I have to be careful of the timeline I've established already. And I'm glad I've peaked your interest.**

**IhateMarySue'sSooooMuch: I'm usually not one to rule out anything that my readers ask but I think this time I feel a real need to, Ash still has the Unova Pokémon, he just isn't using them for his own reasons.**

**Lightningblade49: Yeah something like that, but only time will tell how accurate your theories are, thanks again so much for the review.**

**Chica36: Well isn't that a way to make a writer feel amazing, thanks so much for your review and I hope I can keep up with your expectations.**

**Thanks so much dear reviewers, and dear readers for getting me to this point, some of you will have noticed that I have updated the first chapter, and yes I have, to increase the quality of writing there, not adjust the storyline though, it's just to try to keep up a higher standard seeing how long it's been since I wrote it and I will continue to update the others as the story continues. **

**So what did you all think of this recent chapter? Did you like seeing Tien again? Did you enjoy the insight into the Carinthia family and the impending Hydra Cup? Did anyone see Trip blackmailing and challenging Nixie coming? And why did Nixie find it necessary to throw herself off the boat so she could get to Perry sooner? Let me know all your thoughts with a handy dandy little review. And also, don't forget to go to the poll on my profile and weigh in on which of Ash's rivals should appear in The Eclipse Islands.**

**Fare well readers, see you next time.**

**~Selina**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty Two:**

As the blonde girl paddled up closer to him, the boy standing on the dock simply looked down, an amused smile on his face, shaking his head slightly. She was positively drenched, but as she came to the edge of the pier, she floated there, bobbing along in the waves looking up at the younger boy and the tiny Lavitar which was hiding behind his leg.

'You're nuts sis,' the boy remarked looking down at her.

'Haven't we always known that Per?' she asked innocently, 'And you need to stop calling me sis, what do we call me?'

'Nixie,' he replied obediently, before, sitting down to be a little closer to her, 'But really sis-'

'Nixie.'

'Really _Nixie_, I thought you were going to stall them for a while, I still haven't managed to get rid of your little fangirl,' he warned her.

'Dammit,' Nixie cursed slightly, 'Where is she?'

'Well I managed to get rid of her temporarily, told her for training she should climb the mountain with her Pokémon, but she'll be back midday tomorrow at the latest,' he warned.

'Okay what does she look like so that if she shows up I can run?' she questioned.

'Shortish, fourteen, light brown hair, teal eyes,' he said as if he knew she'd ask.

'Fourteen? Going for an older lady are we Perry?' Nixie giggled.

'Shut up, do you want me to help you out of there or not?' he asked.

'Please and thank you,' Nixie replied with a smirk, holding up her hands to her younger brother who wrenched her out of the water, with the tiny little Lavitar running behind him to avoid getting wet.

Perry looked over her shoulder, noticing the boat coming closer, unable to help commenting, 'You clearly like these people if you'll let them touch your boat.'

'Yeah, which is why I can't let them know who I really am.'

'They'll still like you as you are-'

'There's a difference between me as a Carinthia and me as a person,' Nixie insisted, 'And I'm trying to stop the two colliding, okay?'

'...There's something else going on Nixie, you didn't seem so stubborn and defensive on the phone, or according to Tien and Aura,' he said after a moment examining his sister.

'This is a cute little Lavitar,' Nixie said, kneeling down to look a the rock-type.

'Changing the subject sis, this must be causing you some stress, what happened?'

'There's nothing wrong,' she replied, pulling a slightly soaked oran berry out of her pocket and presenting it to the Lavitar who inched closer to her.

'Denial, misdirection, two key signs that somethings wrong,' Perry said exasperatedly.

'Hey, I taught you those signs, stop using them against me,' Nixie snapped, and the Lavitar hearing her tone backed away slightly, but she turned and smiled at the creature, coaxing it a little closer with the berry.

'Enough, come on, spill.'

'...Trip Nico,' Nixie said flatly.

'Aura and Tien told me about him. He's here on the island now,' Perry said sounding concerned.

'He's blackmailing me, he wants a battle to make sure this league is "worth his precious time." If I don't he's going to tell the others who I am.'

'So do you want me to come along and time how long it takes you to crush the idiot?' Perry asked simply.

'Per, I'm serious,' Nixie said as the little Lavitar finally took the berry from her fingers.

'And so I am, when you won the Sinnoh League back in the day you could have swept your nearest rival but you decided to be kind and change Pokémon once in a while,' Perry reminded.

'Oh shut up Perry,' Nixie groaned, 'If I crush him like a flee, then he'll probably get pissed and tell them anyway. Kind of an issue.'

'You're incapable of doing anything but crushing him though,' Perry laughed.

Nixie looked at him, a glare set on his face before she smiled and said, 'Gimme a hug lil' bro.'

'What? You're soaked-'

'Hugging time!' she announced loudly.

Perry tried to dodge, but Nixie latched onto him, cuddling and nuzzling against him until he managed to struggle loose. Nixie burst out laughing, and then in one tremendous swipe, kicked the legs out from under him and sent him tumbling into the ocean.

'I'm going to go dry off at the Pokémon Centre, you can bring my friends up can't you?' she questioned innocently as he swam up, gasping for air, just in time for a wave to sweep over him.

He spat out the salt water, as Nixie squeezed water out of her ringlets on top of him before running off up the hill, 'Bitch!' he yelled loudly.

Sourly he turned around to get to the ladder on the pier almost instantly to get bumped by the boat that had only just made it to shore, 'Sorry!' came Misty's loud call of concern, clearly afraid she'd hurt him, 'I'm still learning!'

'It's okay,' he replied, squinting slightly through the salt water in his eyes and his fringe falling down.

Drew and Ash reacted hastily, pulling him out of the water onto the boat quickly, the boy vaguely shook his hair out, shuddering slightly from the fresh wave of cold hit him. Dawn pulled a towel out from the cabinet under the seat and wrapped it around his shoulders, looking concerned.

'Are you okay?' she asked hastily.

The boy looked up, pushing his fringe back, before noticing Dawn properly and blushing slightly, 'Peachy, no big deal, she always does stuff like that,' before sneezing slightly.

'That's not very nice of Nixie, you're going to get a cold,' she replied, unable to help herself.

'Well she was in the water longer than I was, if I do, she will. And honestly, it's Nixie, the more she loves you the more she messes with you, unfortunately if she hates you she scares the hell out of you so it's impossible to win,' he replied effortlessly.

Perry looked up now though, noticing that Misty, still new to the controls on Nixie's boat, was having trouble pulling it up to the dock, clearly worried about scratching the paint. Without hesitating he dropped the towel and clambered up the ladder to the top deck.

'Here, let me,' he said, taking the wheel and the controls away from her, 'She's tricked it out so that no one can drive it unless she's taught them how to, she calls it thief control, I call it being a smart-ass.'

Perry easily manoeuvred the boat up against the pier before grabbing the rope and leaping off the top deck and tied it up expertly. He was thirteen, but athletic having no problem leaping the couple of meters to the ground, tall for his age with sun tanned skin and muscle consistent with hard work rather than working out. His features were delicate, almost vaguely pixie like, which only further showed his resemblance to Tien. His face was fringed heavily with shaggy, pale brown hair, and his eyes were large and bright brown. He was wearing a white button up shirt, and dark brown pants, with a belt lined with Pokéballs around his waist.

Even as he'd barely finished tying up the boat, he scooped up his backpack with one hand, tossed it over his shoulder, plucked the towel from Dawn's hand from where she'd picked it up vaguely dried his hair with it. And the moment the Lavitar looked up at him seeming upset for some reason he scooped it up off the ground, giving it a one armed hug before turning to look at them all with an expectant smile.

'Hi, I'm Perry Carinthia, my sisters have been telling me about you lot,' he said making a very clear impression on them.

Everyone vaguely glanced at each other, not entirely sure of what to do now that Nixie wasn't here, but May hastily remedied the situation, 'Hi there,' she said stepping onto the dock, 'I'm May Maple, Tien was telling us all about you last night, whose this little guy?'

May was grinning at the tiny Lavitar and he grinned slightly, 'She,' he corrected, 'it's one of the Lavitar's that I've been breeding, she felt a little unloved seeing as one of her brothers is a shiny so I thought I'd take her along and give her something to do.'

'Shiny huh?' May giggled, staring adoringly at the tiny Lavitar, remembering Ash's story about the one he'd raised in Johto briefly.

'It means an alternately coloured Pokémon May, call yourself a trainer not knowing that-' Max began but May whipped around to glare at her little brother.

'I wasn't asking, I was commenting, I have a shiny Dratini for god's sake Max,' she snapped.

Max reddened as he'd realised what he'd just said, and flushed slightly, 'Sibling rivalry I presume?' Perry laughed and pulled Max off the boat with ease, 'Make sure you check your facts before challenging their statements, I learnt that the hard way,' he laughed.

Max flushed slightly at this comment and Misty spoke up, 'As the only youngest child here I'd have to say I agree. Hi, I'm Misty,' she said offering her hand to Perry, 'Though compared to you Max must have it pretty easy, having sixteen elder siblings must be hard, and to think I thought having three was hard.'

'Fifteen,' he corrected, 'At least I'm older than Tien, even if its by about an hour. She's the baby of the family.'

Misty laughed slightly, 'Still have a lot to compete with though.'

'Oh I know that, little distinctions like that just get me through the day,' he shrugged effortlessly, before suddenly noticing the rest of them on the boat, his eyes focusing on one person in particular, 'Brock? From Pewter City?'

Brock seemed extremely surprised that he was being recognised but nodded and walked over, 'Sure am, it's good to meet you Perry.'

'Your gym in Pewter is legendary man, I'm surprised you left it when you did, I never did get a chance to battle you, it always annoyed me,' Perry grinned.

'Well I wanted to become a breeder, six and a half years later I'm still working on it. I'm surprised you'd heard of me, you must have been, what... seven, when I left the gym?' he asked confusedly.

'Doesn't mean I haven't watched your battle videos religiously, besides they still use your old Pokémon in the gym,' he insisted, 'Forrest and Flint are good, but they never did quite take the cake for me.'

Brock laughed, flushing slightly, not used to praise like this for his battling, before smiling and said, 'I look forward to seeing you battle, to see what you've learnt.'

Perry grinned, 'It'll be my pleasure to force you into a quick battle later, but for now, whose my actual opponent?'

Ash who'd been waiting for an excuse to interrupt, stepped forward hastily, 'That would be me, Ash Ketchum, and this is my buddy Pikachu.'

'Who he will stupidly use in battle no matter what we try to tell him,' Drew said sarcastically, stepping onto the pier, 'Hi, I'm Drew.'

And with that said, barely paying attention to Perry, he went off to stand by May, Ash rolled his eyes laughing and said, 'So when do you recon we'll be able to have our match.'

'Tomorrow at some stage, I do have another challenger this afternoon so I can't do it today. Some guy named Trip,' everyone froze at that name and Perry smirked slightly, 'Wow, you really do go puce at the mention of that name Ash, Nixie was right.'

Ash bit his lip hard to stop a retort, but Perry had already got distracted by the one person he'd yet to be introduced to, 'And who might you be?' he questioned, eyes set on Dawn.

'Oh right, Dawn Berlitz,' she said hastily, 'And this is my Piplup.'

Perry smiled at her brightly, before hastily clearing his throat and said, 'Well, Nixie wanted me to take you lot up to the Pokémon Centre, so we better get moving,' he said as his eyes flickered back to Dawn, 'I look forward to getting to know all of you better.'

'If I was as soaked as you I'd just be looking forward to finding another towel.'

...

As Nixie entered the Pokémon centre, knowing she was miles ahead of the others, she saw Trip across the room, staring at her. She made a face at him, to let him know how tedious she found him, and even as she returned from the bathroom, drying her hair off with a towel five minutes later, he was standing there waiting for her.

'Trip,' she said simply, 'Do you have a reason to be standing around wasting my air?'

'I was just making sure you hadn't chickened out of our little battle tonight,' he said simply, taunting eyes locked on her.

But she just leered at him, before saying, 'Now why would I want to do that? If I wanted to back out of our fight I'd simply have you arrested for blackmail, threatening and I'd probably be able to throw in verbal abuse, and the grievous harm to a Pokémon after what you pulled on my sister's Altaria. There was a line, but you decided to cross it, now didn't you?'

'It was a weakling, it deserved what it got,' he hissed but Nixie spat directly into his face with deadly accuracy making Trip flinch, the look of disgust coming across his face.

'Forgive me, my family and I were raised on this Island alone, clearly a few of the tendencies of a savage I picked up didn't rub off,' she said innocently.

'Why did you do that?!' he demanded angrily.

'Simple pumpkin. That attitude right there is why I'm not having you arrested. Because it won't prove anything, I am going to crush you into a pulp tonight, fair and square,' Nixie taunted, 'And maybe, just maybe, then you'll realise that there's a little thing called class. But respect and common decency works just as well for me, seeing as you seem to lack the ability to execute either of those things.'

Trip hissed in anger and he said, 'You're going to have to beat me first, and I can guarantee you won't do that-'

'I'll be nice and say that the battle will last under a minute,' Nixie interrupted.

'And how is that nice?' he asked, still glaring at her.

'Because I'd put money on me beating you in less than thirty seconds.'

* * *

**Okay, back once again, with what has turned out to be not just the usual one am update, but I decided to put in extra work and stupidly stay up till 2 am finishing this off!**

**So this time we've properly introduced the first of the Carinthia brothers to officially join the story, Perry Carinthia, the youngest brother with a talent for rock types. What do you think of him from the introduction I've given? I decided to give him a proper one rather than introducing him just before the gym battle like I usually do. The story cover should be changed to how I pictured him by the time you read this but occasionally it takes a while for the picture to go through. **

**I have continued to update my previous chapters, and my edited version of chapter two is up now, check it out if you'd like to see how I've managed to expand and improve the quality of writing back there. Next chapter we shall have a little more Perry, as well as some time with Max who I've realised isn't getting enough screen time, and hopefully Nixie's impending battle against Trip shall begin (it depends how much time I have on my hands as well as the length of the next chapter) so review away and I shall update as soon as I can. But first let me just thank the reviewers who motivated me to get the chapter up now.**

**Draconic Skysong: May I just say first of all, I love your pen name. Giving Pikachu an evolution is something I haven't considered before, but it is an interesting concept. And as for Heracross and Torkoal, that is easily possible. And apart from his Tauros and his old Lapras I think that is it.**

**Chica36: How long will this story go? I frankly have no idea! I really should speed it up I guess, but when I'm doing such short chapters yet updating so frequently its kind of hard for me to say how long it will be, but I'm guessing unless I decide to split it along the way it'll end up over a hundred chapters, hell only up to the third and we're onto Chapter 32. I'm not sure... I haven't really thought about it too much.**

**Rales Mckoy: Nixie's definitely determined to do just that, till next review!**

**Aussieking: Part of my plan was for everyone to form an opinion on who Nixie was either from the description of Hydra, or by ruling Hydra out, did you notice some of the little breadcrumbs I left in that chapter? It does give an answer to whether or not she could be Hydie. Well seeing as all badge battles are six on six, I thought it might drag it out too much if I included that. **

**IhateMarySue'sSooooMuch: Well how could it not be satisfying if that's the way it goes? And let's hope Hydie have something go right for her as well.**

**BookLover20011010: Well feel free if you're only on Chapter One!**

**Amalgame: Begging huh? I'm glad you liked the insight, and as for why Nixie jumped off the boat, you seem to be borderline right.**

**Thanks to all of you so much for your reviews, why don't all you other readers follow in their footsteps and send me one as well? Don't forget if you haven't already voted on the poll on my profile about which of Ash's old Rival's you'd like to see next, to go straight ahead and do that, it won't be up for too much longer!**

**So with that all said and this authors note finishing at 2:30 in the morning, good night, good morning, good afternoon, good day to all of you from around the world!**

**~Selina**


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